Legacy of the Forgotten
by Gryphon117
Summary: (Fantasy AU) An elsewhere story; A redheaded adventurer arrives at the distant and exotic land of Yamato with an objective. A purpose that will get her far more than she ever bargained for in a country fraught with conflict and political deceit, as the encroaching darkness of ages past looms on the horizon.
1. Prologue

**Accessing Memory Databanks**

 **...**

 **SCROLLS SYSTEM Ver.2.5.3**

 **Copyright(C) F.L.A. 2011-2016**

 **...**

 **MODE: Information Retrieval**

 **...**

 **MEMORY_CHECK...OK!**

 **...**

 **SECURITY_CHECK...FAILED**

 **...**

 **Databanks accessed, EPSILON level security clearance granted. Please input search term.**

A pale blue light shone on a small, dilapidated room, dimly illuminating the otherwise dark environment. The weak glow proved itself insufficient to light the furthest reaches of the chamber, but succeeded in showing the forms of a boxy machine on top of a table, and a grizzled man attentively leaning towards it.

"Security clearance... intriguing. It probably has something to do with that strange slot in the side of the device." The man's eyes closely scanned the lines of text before him. "...A search term? Does it mean, a word? Well, nothing lost in trying, I suppose."

Needing no time to think about the term he was about to enter, two strong-looking hands immediately took to pushing the required buttons in the strange letter-filled board connected to the main machine.

 **ADAM.**

A sudden beeping noise caused the single occupant of the room to jump in surprise, instinctively reaching a hand towards his back and looking all around him in search of threats.

When no menace made itself apparent after a few seconds of careful examination, the man allowed his guard to drop and resumed his previous position in front of the machine, assuming that the unexpected noise must have come from the contraption itself.

The newest lines added to the device's main component further reinforced his belief:

 **ERROR! Inaccessible search term. Security clearance BETA or higher required to accept input.**

 **...**

 **Please input search term.**

The man carefully read the new information before closing his eyes and letting out a deep and slightly upset sigh.

"That would have been far too simple, of course. Very well, then, let us try something else."

 **LILITH.**

 **ERROR! No matches found.**

 **...**

 **Please input search term.**

The new message was accompanied by the confirmation of his previous theory regarding the beeping sound.

"...Nothing? Most curious, indeed. Now, is there a way for this device to tell me what it is that I can actually access, I wonder?"

The man brought a hand to his beard, equally as grizzled as his hair, and considered his options for a moment. Soon enough, a look of realization crossed his eyes, and he leaned down to write once more.

 **EPSILON.**

 **Security clearance allows access to 1 file(s). Access? (Y/N)**

"Eureka."

Smirking in satisfaction, he wasted no time in communicating his agreement to the complex machine.

 **Y.**

And the device answered back with yet another question.

 **File is corrupted and might not show properly. Access anyway? (Y/N)**

"Corrupted?" a confused eyebrow rose slightly over its twin. "I don't really know what 'corrupted' stands for in regards to this, but it can't be good. Let us see, anyway."

The man repeated his last command, and the letters in the machine instantly changed to show what looked like an artificial piece of paper with black writing over a light blue background. Wasting no time in questioning the sudden transition, the man turned his attention towards reading the offered document in as much detail as possible.

 __ of __

 _A _ man once said that Ma_ worst enemy has, and will al_ys be, ano_r man. I have, during my _, never found any re_on to ever doubt tho_ words, but _ that they might _ ring true once again in the most t_ble of _._

 _My _ is _ian _er, one of the head scientists in _ of the _on _ject, an enterprise seeking to _vat_ _ into _. I'm proud to announce that the _ _ with ADAM were a _cc_, but ashamed to _ that our once noble _ might have _ned into a _avelli_ mockery of _ it once _; Sadly, I _ n_ _ of this cha_e when we are _ of _ing able _ any_ me_ngful about _, despite being _ned about what was hap_ing right in front of my e_ time and _ again._

 _I allowed my _de and certified g_us to _ my humanity, wi_ e_ng that _, and lost that which _ held dear_ for it._

 __ unclear on _ my _ are born out of a need for redemption or a desire for revenge, _ both are _ at this point. Nevertheless, I _ that this brief report will serve as both a _ to the events that will shortly and inevitably take place in our _, and as a deterrent to _ attempting something similar in _._

 _In the hopes that there will be someone left to eventually read these lines, of course. Holding on to _, this document has been sent to every _ networked _ in the system, so that the chances of it surviving what is to come may be as _ as possible._

 _With that said, I believe that a short introduction regarding the workings of our current society and the _ are necessary before we move on to the central _, starting with the _ responsible for both _ and imminent destruction:_

 _ADAM._

"I suppose that all the holes in this letter is what the device meant by it being 'corrupted'. A shame that it is not in a better state, but fascinating nonetheless. It seems like I might end up finding what I was looking for, after all," a soft, dark chuckle resounded slightly throughout the room. "Should I be thanking the Lady for this boon?"

The man eagerly pressed the button with a downwards-pointing arrow on it in order to make the view scroll further...

Only to find an unintelligible mess of weird symbols, numbers and letters staring back at him.

Surprised and slightly annoyed by this turn of events, the reader pushed the arrow button once again in hopes of finding yet another patch of incomplete, but readable, text. His efforts went without recompense, however, and he eventually gave up after a dozen pages of garbled nonsense.

"No. Definitely not offering my thanks to any Goddesses today, it looks like."

His remark went accompanied by a deep sigh of discontent, followed by a look of realization as the man seemed to remember something.

"In any case, I should go back before my absence starts to raise uncomfortable questions. I can always come back to try and puzzle out my next step some other time." The lone figure crouched lower to the floor and carefully checked a second box set up below the first one, looking for something. "Where were you now, little button...? Oh! Here!"

The man gently pushed a round, sliding piece of the machine inward until it would advance no more, and then allowed the part to return to its previous position. As soon as he let go the device died down, apparently inoperative, and the poor lighting in the room became more precarious still, the only source of light coming from somewhere down the hallway outside.

Standing back up from his crouching position, the grizzled male put a hand to his short beard and allowed himself a few moments to consider the few facts his search had managed to glean.

"ADAM... so it did exist. That little piece of information alone makes this whole excursion worth it, I suppose, since that proves that not all of her words were complete lies." His eyes narrowed and the hold on his beard tightened slightly. "But are the rest of her words equally as sincere, I wonder?"

Walking outside at a sedate pace, the man pushed aside those thoughts to be reviewed at a later time and closed the door behind him, leaving the room shrouded in darkness once again.


	2. Landfall

A hazy whiteness blanketed the placid movement of the blue seas as a small wooden sailboat cut its way throughout the small waves. Its motion was accompanied by the sound of the tide crashing against the hull, and breaking off into little droplets of water that further added to the soothing symphony with their rejoining of the whole. The sounds of seagulls in the distance offered a backdrop not unlike that of the support elements of an orchestra, and the melody of the breeze whooshing by helped in picturing the kind of serenity that poets and other assorted artists sought as both inspiration and work environment.

A tranquillity only broken by the notoriously loud complaints of a redheaded young woman.

" _Argh!_ How much longer until I can get off this blasted ship?!"

The question, clearly directed at both anyone and no one at the same time, was met with a deadly silence sorely lacking in all the beautiful qualities of the one that had preceded it. Instead, the few people currently populating the deck of the ship carefully went about their work while trying their best to ignore both the utter destruction of the peaceful setting and the one that was responsible for it.

For the crew of the small merchant ship had quickly learned of the wisdom in keeping their mouths shut at a respectable distance unless completely necessary, after all.

Something that didn't seem to amuse the ginger female clad in studded leather armour. She scanned the deck of the ship with her blue eyes, looking for someone available to give her an answer to her question (and failing that, vent her frustrations upon), but her search came up with nothing, for everyone up top seemed to be conspicuously busy with something or other.

Rolling her eyes at the men's _obviously_ childish antics, the girl turned her attention back to the view available from the port side of the ship. Or the lack of view, rather, for not being able to catch sight of their destination due to the encroaching mist had been the whole reason for her outcry in the first place.

Fully focused on her attempt to see land, the redhead failed to notice the big figure of a man coming up behind her until he spoke.

"Shrieking like a wailing banshee will not get us any closer to the coast, Sohryu. Relax and enjoy the last few moments of rest you'll have before landfall." The deep voice made the young girl jump in surprise and quickly turn around, before it took on a joking a tone. "Unless you are planning on terrifying the good Captain and his boys into abandoning ship? I wouldn't say no to that, I sure could use a personal ship like this for business."

The blue eyes of the only female on board quickly found their mark on the one responsible for nearly making her go overboard: a plump man slightly taller than her, with short black hair and a well-trimmed moustache, and wearing comfortable but relatively elegant travelling clothes of considerable quality. Somewhere in his fifties and with a good-natured grin nearly splitting his face in two, he waited impatiently for the incoming results of his actions.

"Damn it, Yuri! I've told you not to do that! And who are you calling a banshee, anyway?! You want to have a meeting with the business end of my axe, or what?!"

Results that apparently (and beyond any human understanding) satisfied the man, if the bombastic laughter that answered the fearsome tirade that had kept the rugged sailors of the ship at bay was any indication.

"That routine was mildly scary the first fifteen times, Asuka, but I have to say that it doesn't have much of an effect anymore. Plus, it doesn't really follow to hurt your employer when you're nearing the end of your contract, does it?" Another round of loud guffaws followed his words until he caught himself enough to continue. "What's the big deal, anyway? We've been at sea for barely two weeks this time, so what are you getting your knickers in a twist for?"

Asuka Sohryu, age 17, levelled an annoyed glare at the smirking man, indicating clearly that this conversation between the two was far from being the first that had flowed in a similar manner.

"You know that I don't like ships, Yuri. I need to have more effective surface than this old floating barn provides to use my legs, and there's no way I can effectively train with all this damn swaying around."

"Then I'll say it again: why not use this time to properly rest up and get ready for your travels? You do realize that the chances of getting proper rest when we arrive in Yamato are going to become few and far between, right?"

"Because not all of us want to sleep twenty hours a day, you lazy bum! Seriously, it's no wonder you can sleep through a goddamn earthquake."

"Lies, lies, lies. I merely sleep for sixteen hours, girlie, and that earthquake barely qualified as such!" The explosion of laughter that Asuka had been expecting at this point was surprisingly replaced by a few controlled chuckles. "In any case, I'm pretty sure that you'll be getting your wish soon, Sohryu. We are probably little more than an hour away from making landfall."

"An hour?" Asuka blinked at the unexpected information. "How do you know?"

"I can tell. It's not the first time I do this trip, after all." The older man paused in his talking for a moment and took out something from his jacket's pocket. "And on that note, here, take this."

Yuri threw the small object in Asuka's direction with a flick of his fingers, and the redhead expertly caught it in mid-air before taking a good look at it. In her right hand she now held a small golden choker carved in the shape of something resembling a sun, with a kind of dark, red jewel fitted into the middle.

"A pendant?" questioned the redhead. "Why are you giving me this?"

The jewel didn't look particularly expensive, nor was it exceedingly pretty, but to receive a present from out of nowhere from _Yuri_ of all people felt... off, to say the least.

No merchant in this world ever became successful by being overly generous, after all, and the oversized man always kept that maxim to heart.

"Consider it a bit of an extra to your pay for a job well done." Yuri's tone, in an uncommon departure for the man, was honest and serious for once. "You may bitch and moan constantly, but you take your work seriously and have done much better than I initially expected. You have also given me less headaches and caused less material damage than any of your predecessors, too. I value that."

"'A job well done'? That's it?" Asuka raised a questioning eyebrow. "No offense, Yuri, but I have come to expect underlying motives behind everything you do."

At her words, and almost as if he were expecting it, the old merchant's façade fell down like a tower of cards and broke out in heavy laughter once again.

"And she's smart, to boot! Gods, I'm afraid that you know me too well, girlie! It's true. I'm expecting this little present to nail me an easier contract in the future, when you inevitably end up becoming a much more sought after woman."

 _'...And he doesn't even bother with trying to meaningfully hide it. Of course.'_

Sighing lightly as the man continued on with his traditional laughing fits, Asuka eventually managed to find a long enough space to fit in another question:

"And where did you get this thing, exactly?"

"Bah! An old hag sold it to me claiming that it was a 'unique and wondrous artefact, ripe with magical properties'." Yuri slightly scrunched his face in annoyance, in a rare display of disgust. "Obviously, I've never seen it do anything special, though, and the smart thing would have been to tell the old bat to shove it up her ass, but way too many drinks over at Schera's joint that night kind of dulled my trader instincts."

Another sigh flew out of the young woman's lips, this time sounding much more deep and irritated.

"So it's just a random trinket that you don't want to hang on to. Pfft, how awfully generous of you. You are getting dropped to the bottom of any contract list I end up making, Mr. Bogdanov, but thanks for the vote of confidence, anyway." Asuka's memory suddenly jolted to a previous event that she would have rather left forgotten. "Wait, Schera's? Are you talking about that time in Cairo six months ago? The one when Marcus and I had to scare away a bunch of drunk idiots on your behalf, and then drag you from a pool of your own vomit and back to our lodgings?"

The progressive widening of Yuri's smile as she recounted each of the events was pretty much all the proof the redhead needed to tell that she was right about her theory, but the man felt the need to joyously confirm it nonetheless.

"Yes! Yes! Good memory, Sohryu! Hells, it's always a good time when we get to spend a night in that place!"

The redhead's deadpan stare perfectly reflected her lack of amusement at the memory.

"Yeah, a truly unforgettable experience, Yuri. I think I'm still carrying the smell of that one."

"Don't kid yourself, girlie. I'm afraid that that smell is all you."

...

Whether it was because of the sudden and out of place way in which it was said or because the old man was still grinning like an idiot when he said it, it took Asuka a couple of seconds and a few re-runs to ensure that what her ears had heard had indeed been correct.

She didn't waste any time in grabbing Yuri by the front of his jacket and pinning him against the railing of the ship in a bout of her usual fury when she did, though.

" _Du arschloch!_ What kind of brute says that about a young lady?!"

" _You? A lady?_ " the merchant's wide smile didn't slip for even a second, despite his circumstances. "If you call yourself a _lady_ with the way you swing around that axe of yours, then I'm the freaking _Pope_! And following on that, when was the last time you took a bath, oh beauteous maiden?"

 _'_ _ **...Way too long ago.**_ _'_

A little voice inside the redhead's mind involuntarily relayed the answer to that question, and she felt herself wince slightly in response. The man didn't fail to notice her reaction, and took note of it as all the confirmation he needed.

"Thought so. Welcome to the mercenary life, girlie, where the only thing as bad as your personal hygiene will be your pay!" Yuri's words were punctuated by a powerful slap on Asuka's shoulder, and accompanied by his usual boisterous laugh. "In any case, take that useless trinket with you. Who knows, maybe it will unleash its full potential when worn by the great and wonderful Heroine of Batavia? Worst case scenario, it will look better on you than it would on me."

"As if that would be difficult, old man." Asuka reluctantly let go of the eastern man and allowed him to return to his previous position. "And you're forgetting Ancona, Cairo and Bombay, by the way."

"That I am, true." Yuri's eyes once again took on that serious glint that was ever so rare to see on him. "I have to say, though, so long as you don't ever change, you have a bright future ahead of you, Sohryu. That unchecked brashness of yours is the exact kind of attitude you'll need to survive in your line of work. It doesn't matter how many men you can cleave with one swing if no one will take you seriously, after all."

Having said all that he wanted to say, and leaving a speechless young redhead unaccustomed to being praised in his wake, the plump man bowed as gracefully as he could and turned to take his leave back indoors.

"I'm off to tell the men to prepare the goods for disembarking, and you should start packing up your things soon as well, because I recommend spending as little time as possible in the crummy little village we'll be landing in."

Finally regaining back control over her vocal cords, Asuka managed to stammer a response before her employer disappeared through the doorway.

"...O-Okay, will do. See you later, Yuri."

With the door closing behind him at the same time as her words left her, Asuka wasn't sure of whether Yuri had actually heard her or not, but resolved against following him to make sure. Instead, she turned on her heel and went back to gazing out of the side of the ship, a confident look adorning her face.

"'Never change', huh? Well, that's easy enough to do." The girl suddenly went rigid, her eyes having caught sight of something, before her previous expression gave way to a wide smile. " _Finally!_ It's about freaking time!"

The mist seemed to have thinned out a little over the last few minutes, and barely distinguishable in the distance stood a long line of imposing cliff faces, easily over a hundred metres tall and made out of gray rock. Waves incessantly crashing against them, the stone wall seemed to go well into the foggy horizon in both directions, save for a small indent standing in the ship's course that lead further inland.

And, hopefully, to Asuka's destination.

Wherever that was.

For now, though, the girl couldn't help but feel a slight disappointment at how accurate her home-brewed negative mental image of Yamato had turned out to be: gray, damp, dark, and unwelcoming in the extreme. And considering the generally sunny locales that she had visited so far in her travels, those four things along with the lack of an orange sphere in the sky was enough to dull her expectations for the future a little.

"...Yamato, you sorry lump of rock in the butt-end of nowhere, you are every bit as uninspiring as Mr. Kaji said. Hopefully the inside will be better than the outside." Asuka sighed deeply before regaining her composure. "In any case, I guess it won't be a terrible place to start making a name for myself if things end up not working out as I want them to."

The young woman kept her watch for a short time, hoping to catch sight of something that would lift her spirits in the otherwise completely unremarkable scene before her, but her attempts failed miserably.

However, the silent vigil did bring Asuka's mind back to a specific part of her talk with Yuri and, not being a woman known for leaving any kind of question unanswered, she resolved on testing the validity of the man's words.

The redhead propped herself upright and took a few discreet looks around her to make sure that she had no one's attention, which became an easy question to answer when she spotted most of the ship's crew members arranging sails back and forth on the other end of the deck, probably preparing to dock. Satisfied, Asuka gave in to her inner temptation and moved to answer the bothersome question rounding her head.

By stealthily taking a good sniff of her right armpit, and recoiling back with a disgusted grimace shortly after.

"Yuck."

-]LotF[-

The small fishing hamlet of Otaru was a true example of a village that dedicated its entire existence to the sea: the houses and other assorted buildings were small and sturdy, designed to withstand the constant and furious buffeting of the seaside winds for years on end. The dock and the small fishing boats lined along its length were well-maintained, and plentiful, in the case of the latter.

And while the fishing techniques that these people stubbornly stuck to were nothing short of archaic when compared to the way things were done in Asuka's homeland, it looked like the sheer ability of the village's inhabitants was more than enough to make up the difference and keep them well fed. Or at least that's what the redhead could infer from the barrels chock-full of fresh sea life.

It also meant that the main avenues of travel through the town were _really_ dirty and very slippery in some areas, and that it was necessary to be quite a distance away from the nearest house in order to get away from the disgusting smell of fish, as Asuka had very quickly come to realize.

Thankfully, judging by the sheer amount of goods that were already in Yuri's caravan, it wouldn't be very long until her employers (and soon to be ex-employers) would be ready to continue on their way.

And that moment couldn't come soon enough, for Otaru's general griminess was doing very few favours for the redhead's urgently rising need to take a bath.

"I suppose there's no way of convincing you to stick with us, Sohryu?"

A familiar voice coming from behind her broke Asuka from her slightly depressing train of thought.

"I'm afraid not, Yuri." The young woman turned to face the less than athletic trader. "I want to make sure to search every nook and cranny of this piece of rock, and it stands to reason that I would do so from north to south, considering our position."

"True, but you waste your time," remarked the raven-haired man with a shrug. "The only notable settlement to the north of here is Akuro, infamous for offering very little in the ways of anything. I don't see why anyone would choose to willingly go there under normal circumstances."

 _'Akuro?'_ the name brought a jolt of a memory through the girl's mind. _'Wasn't that one of the places that Mr. Kaji used to mention? Huh, talk about coincidence.'_

Resolving that, yes, that specific name had probably dropped once or twice while in conversation with her idol, Asuka decided to put aside that train of thought before it ended up making her feel homesick.

"You're probably right, but being such an unlikely destination is all the more reason for leaving no stone unturned. Plus, I might get the chance at doing something noteworthy in the area. You never know." The redhead waved a dismissive hand through the air. "Your plans for heading towards the capital remain unchanged, I suppose?"

"Indeed! Although I will be taking my time to stop in a few settlements on the way. This oft forgotten land has many valuable riches to offer someone such as myself, after all, and it would be foolish not to make the best of my travels in that regard."

"That's good to know. I hope things go well for you, old man."

"As do I!" Yuri took the time to laugh in his special way. "By the way. I asked some of my boys to bring out your horse and put your things in the saddlebags. I'm certain that they'll have done a thorough job of it, but make sure to check for yourself."

"My, how generous of you, Yuri." Asuka blinked in surprise. "Not one, but _two_ gifts in one day? You're going soft, Mr. Bogdanov."

"I'm afraid that I have never been good at goodbyes, my dear Fräulein, although I expect that we will eventually cross paths once again. Do make sure to look for us in Tokyo's market when you end up making your way over there, by the way. I won't be opposed towards offering you another contract for our travels to the south end of the island."

The redhead didn't bother with hiding a satisfied smirk at the possibility of a juicy contract.

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind. But for now, I better do as you say and take a look at my things. I've got to make sure that Emil is fine, too. See you later, Yuri."

The youthful mercenary turned to do as she said, before a sudden interjection on Yuri's part stopped her in her tracks.

"Oh! One last thing, Asuka."

"Huh? What is it?"

"Well..." The plump man took a moment to think on how to best explain himself. "I shouldn't need to tell you this, but don't mention your homeland around these parts. You Imperial folks aren't exactly well-liked, here."

"I expected as much," agreed the redhead with a shrug. "Military invasions do that to people, and it hasn't been all that long since then. Thanks for the concern, but I wasn't planning on putting a target on my back _that_ quickly, old man."

"Good, good. Oh, and do make sure to cover up that hair of yours as well. The Yamese are a superstitious bunch, and I'm afraid that red hair could end up landing you in trouble."

"...Really?"

The girl's raised eyebrows attested to her disbelief at Yuri's words. Not at the stupid reasons that a collective of people could have to be afraid of the unknown (she had seen plenty of _that_ back home), but at _hair colour_ of all things being a source of superstition.

Then again, the Empire had grown out of the 'Gingers have no soul' phase some time ago, so this was probably just Yamato showing its inherent backwardness once more.

In any case, it wasn't like Yuri had any reason whatsoever to lie to her (unless this was all an elaborate prank), so she figured that following his advice on that front couldn't go awry.

For now, anyway.

"Well, duly noted. Something else, _dad_?"

The merchant brushed off Asuka's annoyance with a few well-humoured chuckles.

"No, I think that will be all. I look forward to working with you again in the future, girlie. Do take care of yourself."

"Likewise. Try not to die of old age before that, Yuri."

Choosing to ignore Asuka's final parting shot, Yuri offered his ex-employee a good-humoured nod of goodbye, which the redhead returned before heading out to look for her mount. A task that didn't take her a long time, as she spotted the auburn horse tied to a tree near the final cart of the caravan, happily munching on the green grass below.

 _'There you are. Happily gorging anything remotely green without a care in the world, as usual. Good thing I don't let you have your way all that often, you glutton, or your poor stomach would have burst by now.'_

The redhead took her eyes from her satisfied-looking mount for a moment and focused on a building by the side of the road. It was one of the biggest houses in the village (which admittedly wasn't saying much), indicating its overall importance and probable role as either a main store for the town, or an inn for what little traveller traffic this place could have.

In any case, as good a place as any to ask a few questions in.

 _'Now, should I go ask for directions before checking my stuff?'_ Asuka took a moment to consider her options. _'I guess so. Emil isn't going anywhere and it's not like I carry all that many things on me to begin with. Not even Yuri's brainless haulers could possibly mess_ that _up, right?'_

Her mind set, she started towards the building, but not before taking heed of Yuri's advice and covering her flaming hair with the cowl of her traveller's cloak.

Although very much grudgingly.

Even if it had definitely seen better days, Asuka was _damn_ proud of her hair, and the idea of covering it up didn't exactly sit well with her, honestly.

But the old man had a point.

 _'Okay, Asuka,'_ the girl paused in front of the building's main door. _'Time to put all that time learning Yamese with Mr. Kaji to good use. Let's not give ourselves out just yet, all right?'_

Asuka took a deep, calming breath, and confidently pushed aside the sliding door barring her path before stepping inside the building. Inside, she was greeted to the sight of wares on display, mostly aimed at the town fishermen but with a selection on the side directed at people looking to travel deeper into Yamato. A few low tables skirted one of the outer walls and a corridor ran deeper into the building, presumably towards another room.

Patiently kneeling behind a small counter, an elderly woman smiled sweetly at the redhead the very moment her head crossed the threshold.

"Welcome! How may I help you?"

Feeling _immensely_ glad about the fact that she'd had no problem at all understanding what the old lady had said, Asuka put on the sweetest smile she could muster and tried her hand at communication.

"I was looking for directions further inland," she started in hopefully perfect Yamese. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

The woman smiled back at her. And not the kind of delaying smile someone would use when trying to puzzle out something strange happening before them, too, which meant that everything was probably going fine, so far.

Asuka gave herself a mental pat on the back.

"Of course, although I believe that my husband would be better suited to answering those," the redhead caught a glint of something going through the shopkeeper's eye. "But may I offer you something to eat first, young lady? It is almost noon, and I would wager on you being hungry."

 _'So, this place is both a general store and a diner? I wonder if it also offers beds?' the young woman mused. 'In any case, the old woman sure knows how to run a business. I AM hungry, though...'_

"Sure! That sounds nice," Asuka agreed. "Fish, I guess?"

"I'm afraid fish is indeed the main dish we can offer, dear," the old lady offered an apologetic smile. "Will that be a problem?"

"Actually, no. I think I would take anything over dried meat at this point."

Weeks of dieting on preserved food meant that she would have gladly devoured even the food she found most distasteful.

"I'm glad to hear that. Please take a seat, your food will be here in a minute." The owner signalled towards the small tables on the side and then turned to call out into the hallway. "Kei-chan, we have a customer! Could you please prepare something good for them?"

A gruff sounding answer that Asuka couldn't quite make out voiced what she assumed was consent from somewhere down the hallway, but she didn't pay it any mind. Instead, she did as she was told and walked towards the dining area, taking note of the size of the tables and noting that they were indeed as tiny as she had been told.

And also noticed, much to her displeasure, the complete lack of furniture to sit on. In their place, and very much lacking as far as Asuka went, there were a few cushions perfectly arranged around the small table.

 _'Oh, right. The Yamese and their weird eating habits. This is going to take some getting used to...'_

Asuka sighed unhappily and sat down on the floor in front of the table, making herself comfortable while she waited for her food. Or at least, as comfortable as she could.

Thankfully for her rear end, though, she didn't have to wait long to be presented with her meal: a plate of grilled fish, apparently salmon, served over rice and with some vegetables on the side. Nothing _too_ fancy, but a plate of food that looked positively delectable to her hungry body.

And a pleasant surprise, overall, considering that after Mr. Kaji's stories Asuka had been expecting (and dreading) the idea of having to eat raw fish of some sort.

What she had _also_ not been expecting at all, was for the large man that had brought her food to remain standing by her side, clearly waiting for something.

The redhead had not the slightest idea as to what, though, but she would have to find out if she ever intended to dig into her food.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, politely.

"Please take off your cowl while in our home," the cook's request was rather a veiled command. "Hiding one's face while indoors is an insult to the spirit of hospitality."

Behind her cowl, Asuka's eyes widened in realization.

 _'_... _Well, crap. I didn't think of that. What now?!'_

"...Forgive me," she started, aiming to buy time to sort out her thoughts. "But I'd rather not."

"And why is that?"

She didn't know whether the man's tone was intentionally hostile or just a part of his character, but Asuka was clear on the fact that she would need to come up with an excuse _fast_ if she didn't want to answer that particular question the hard way.

 _'Quick thinking, Asuka, quick thinking... Got it!'_

"The sides and back of my head are heavily scarred, gruesomely so," the young woman lied while trying her hardest to keep a straight face. "Repulsive as it is, I'd rather save both me and anyone around from the shame of having to witness my injuries."

A few seconds of silence followed as the man, clearly a former combatant of some sort judging by the scabs marring his face, seemed to consider her words.

"...You're a warrior?"

The tone of disbelief in his voice almost made Asuka seethe.

In any case, there was no need to lie on that one, so the undercover redhead nodded her head resolutely. The scarred man studied her intently, obviously distrustful of her claims and looking for any signs of deceit.

Asuka met the bigger man's eyes and made sure to convey _exactly_ what she thought of that.

"I see." _Kei-chan_ eventually gave up on his examination with a semi-satisfied snort. "I believe that any mark earned in battle should be worn with pride, but I'll respect your wishes if you didn't mean your actions to be disrespectful."

The young sell-sword let out a mental sigh of relief at those words, but didn't let it show in her expression.

"Thanks."

"It is mere hospitality. Think nothing of it." The large man took a seat across from Asuka, apparently intending to keep her company as she ate.

Much to the girl's secret annoyance.

Nevertheless, she decided to listen to her growling stomach and start eating.

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, with one devouring her meal at a pace a hair's breadth away from breaking social decorum, and the other patiently and obviously waiting for the appropriate time to continue the conversation.

Save for the sound of her chopsticks hitting the plate, no noise could be heard throughout the entire building, and it made Asuka question where the old lady had gone. Maybe she was taking care of the kitchen now that her husband was here?

She half-hoped that the kind woman would suddenly appear and take him away but, sadly, her meal continued to steadily disappear and there were no signs of such an event being imminent.

"I heard earlier that you were asking for directions," the cook eventually continued. "Are you looking for work?"

"Yeah, among other things," Asuka managed in between bites of food, while trying her best to hide her irritation. "I was thinking of heading north for the time being."

Her words caused the man's face to darken considerably.

"North, you say. Towards Akuro?"

"That's one of the places I was thinking of going through, yeah."

The cook grunted at Asuka's confirmation.

"Then I advise you to rethink your plans. Do _not_ go to Akuro."

"Why?" Asuka paused in her eating. "Is the road dangerous?"

"I cannot speak for certain, but I believe 'dangerous' to be an understatement." Apparently not a man fond of speaking needlessly, Kei-chan considered his next words carefully. "Word is that some kind of corruption has taken hold of the northern reaches, and that the woods themselves prey on anyone attempting to use the roads. As far as I know, no one has been in or out of Akuro for months, and probably not for a lack of trying."

The redhead raised a curious eyebrow at the information and sat up straighter, forgetting about the few scraps of food still remaining of her meal.

"Are you sure about that?"

The hulking man shook his head in the negative.

"I already told you, no. But I'm certain enough to say that heading to Akuro at this time is akin to running to an early grave."

But much to the man's surprise, his client was no longer listening to him. Instead, she appeared to be deep in thought.

"A mysterious corruption that has isolated a helpless city, huh? That sounds..."

A toothy, confident smile gradually grew across the redhead's face as a plan started to hatch and come together inside her head.

"... _Perfect_."

Much to the bafflement of the other part of the conversation.

"Wait, you're not thinking of-!"

The cook's unfinished question was answered by Asuka slamming a few silver coins on the table and jumping back on her feet.

"Thanks for the food." The redhead hurried towards the door, making it there in a few long strides, and stopped short of leaving the building. She sent a cocky smirk over her shoulder at the still stunned veteran. "And don't worry, old man. I've got _experience_ in dealing with unfathomable evils."

And then she was out like a blazing flame, the door sliding shut behind her.

-]LotF[-

To no real surprise on her part, Asuka found her loyal steed tied to the exact same place it had been an hour ago, and doing the exact same thing it had been doing an hour ago.

However, the beast's time for lazing around was finally coming to an end. There was glory to be had, after all, for the way towards the first steps in the eastern legend of Asuka Sohryu had just appeared before them!

And any valiant Heroine required the help of an equally valiant travelling companion. In Asuka's case, said partner was Emil, a brave and strong horse that was also unyieldingly loyal to his beautiful mistress.

A mistress that he would no doubt rejoice in meeting once again.

Hearing the girl's approaching steps, said animal raised his head for a moment, focused his eyes on her...

...and promptly snorted and went back to eating.

"Hey!" Asuka could feel her left eye twitch slightly at the dismissal. "That's all the greetings I get from my boon companion, Emil?! You're wounding me here!"

The proud beast snorted once more, this time with an underlying tone of accusation added to the exhalation.

"Fine, fine, I understand. I should have visited you more often while we were on the ship, right?" Asuka stepped closer to her mount and lovingly caressed both his neck and the back of his ears. "Sorry about that. Being in that cargo hold for days on end must have been pretty gruelling for you."

Emil stopped feasting long enough to push his head further into the very welcome petting and let out a low and drawn out neigh. For some reason, Asuka felt that her faithful companion was telling her something along the lines of: 'as long as you get it'.

And she couldn't help but chuckle softly at the idea.

"Well, aren't you easy to keep happy." Much to the animal's displeasure, the redhead stopped her pleasantly nice actions and moved to stand near the saddlebags strapped to his body. "Now, stand still and keep filling your stomach, okay? I'm going to check that all my things are here, ask the locals a few questions, and then we'll be on our way. Fine with you?"

The equine let out a sound that Asuka interpreted as something akin to agreement, and went back to eating as ordered, earning himself an affectionate pat on the thigh.

"Good boy." The young woman noticed both her trusty axe and shield firmly attached to the horse's saddle itself and checked those out from her mental list. "Now, let's see: clothing, bandages, sharpening stones,... huh?"

The redhead suddenly stopped in her checking, and, with a wide smile, carefully pulled out something from the saddlebag.

"So _that's_ where you were. I've been looking all over for you!" Asuka held the object in both hands and revealed it to be a small doll mostly made out of red cloth, with a childish face sporting red hair and blue eyes coloured over pearly white porcelain, and a red hood to go over it.

The cloth showed many a sign of stitching and general wear which clearly revealed its old age but, nevertheless, the young woman made sure to take all the care in the world while she handled it, looking for any new damage that she may have to repair.

Eventually she stopped inspecting the toy, satisfied that no new harm had been brought upon her oldest friend. Still smiling widely, she did that which friends do when meeting one another:

"Hi, Maisie!"

And felt the youthful voice answer.

 _'_ _ **Hi, Asuka. It's good to know you found me.**_ _'_

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** So, hi again. It's been a while; I suppose most of the people that followed and favourited me in light of the two one-shots I posted over here will be scratching their heads at this new story. Yes, this is a Fantasy-themed take on Eva, which I feel hasn't been done all that much, and my attempt at rectifying that state of affairs.

As to why go for something like this instead of something more... 'typical'? Well, I just didn't feel like it. I think that there are plenty of stories out there that cover pretty much any kind of ground and angle you could throw at Canon, and that do so in a better fashion than I possibly could. There is very little point in re-treading already developed ground, as far as I'm concerned.

For those that may fear many of the most prominent elements of Canon not appearing in this fic, by the way, know that it is my intention to keep as many of those as I possibly can. That means that, among other things, our dearest characters will eventually be going through some pretty nasty rough times, in true Eva fashion.

As a side-note, and for anyone curious, I don't discard the idea of revisiting the AU of my two other short stories if a good and original enough plot-bunny happens to come to mind. I absolutely _loved_ working on those, but my priority for the time being is on this story.

Know that a thread for this story can be found in the 'User Fiction' sub-forum of the Sufficient Velocity forums, where in-development snippets are regularly uploaded for critique and corrections before proper publishing. If any of you feels up to joining the discussion and helping a talentless hack like me do a better job, know that you are very welcome to.

I hope that you'll enjoy this re-imagination, and that I'll manage to live up to your expectations.

See you next time. Reviews, as always, are coveted and appreciated.


	3. The Road to Akuro

_**'I-I don't think this was a g-good idea, Asuka...'**_

The childish and frightened voice echoed through Asuka's head just like any other of the myriad of thoughts that routinely flew through the redhead's mind. This was a situation that the young mercenary was more than used to already, and she had long ago mastered the art of picking Maisie's sentences from among her own.

Not that she would have needed to gain such an ability to discern her old friend's current mantra from what thoughts were completely hers, since the whiny worrying had been dominating the back of her mind for about four hours now.

And it didn't help that the pitch and tone were perfectly suited to preventing the redhead from tuning out the annoying spiel.

Old friends or not, Asuka was starting to get sick of it by this point.

"For the last time, Maisie, we are doing this and that's _final_! It's not like we can just turn around at this point, anyway!" the young woman spoke in a blaring, reprimanding tone. "What's the deal with you today? I get that you are a scaredy cat, but you usually aren't such a pain in the ass about it!"

To anyone watching, Asuka would have no doubt looked like a madwoman, shouting and loudly arguing with what onlookers could only have guessed to be the empty air of the forest. But thankfully for her and for her future hopes of securing a job, the redhead was as alone in the woods as she could ever be.

Which considering her circumstances, implied one more person than normal.

 _ **'...'**_

And yet, despite Maisie being her only company for the entirety of the afternoon, Asuka had managed to momentarily forget who it was that she was speaking to: essentially a young child, who was and had always been very much afraid of the unknown. Doubly so, considering that Maisie couldn't actually see the world through the redhead's eyes.

And Asuka felt like kicking herself for her outburst.

Tender age aside, Maisie had always been on the sensitive side of the personality spectrum after all, and the very last thing she needed at the moment was for her to start _crying_.

"...Sorry, Maisie," she apologised quietly. "That came out a little bit harsher than I wanted. I forget that you're a little kid sometimes, you know?"

 _ **'...It's fine. I-I don't mind.'**_

The barely restrained hiccups that Asuka could hear in the background indicated otherwise, however.

"It's not about minding or not, Maisie," the redhead continued, hoping to defuse the situation. "I mean, we've been together for how long? A decade? I shouldn't be exploding at you like that."

 _ **'Don't worry, Asuka. T-That's just who you are.'**_

...

Asuka briefly wondered if the somewhat mean subtext in the child's words had been intentional or not, before pushing the idea aside. If her inner companion wanted to get back at her a little for losing her temper, she was well in her right to do so.

Plus, the crisis of the weeping Maisie seemed to have been successfully averted for the moment. Asuka would count her lucky stars for _that_.

"...Well, that's flattering... _not,_ " the young woman chuckled humorously. "So, moving on, my question still stands. What's got you so nervous all of a sudden? Don't you trust me anymore, or what?"

A sudden and humongous influx of information suddenly piled up in the periphery of the redhead's mind and Asuka's eyes widened, recognizing the sensation and knowing dreadfully well what was about to follow her little slip.

She mentally kicked herself a second time.

As a chaotic whirlwind of conflicting messages washed over her like a typhoon.

 _ **'N-No, it's not-!' / 'Of course I-I trust-!' / 'How c-could you say such a-!' / 'I couldn't fathom-!'**_

"Ouch! Slow down, Maisie!" Asuka shouted at the top of her lungs. Or at least she hoped she did, because there was simply no way she could actually hear herself over the cacophony of clashing information. "You're going to give me a headache!"

Asuka felt more than heard a startled gasp in the background and, just like that, the infernal noise ceased all of a sudden, leaving behind a single apologetic thought.

 _ **'...Sorry...'**_

And Maisie sounded every bit as sorry as she would have no doubt looked. Asuka might not have been able to actually _see_ the girl, but the implied puppy dog eyes weren't lost on her, all the same.

The young mercenary only wished that her partner's all too common flustering didn't result in the same thing _every damn time_ , even if this particular episode had been short and unlikely to cause any lasting pounding in her head.

But it was still irritating. Very much so.

"It's fine, don't worry." Asuka sighed and rubbed a few fingers over her temples. "So, you're still hung up on what that old cook said?"

 _ **'Y-Yes. He sounded really worried about us going this way...'**_

And certainly had tried his hardest to prevent them from leaving, that's for sure. The redhead had come _this_ close to forcefully pushing _Kei-chan_ out of the way using her trusty steed.

Who did that old geezer think he was talking to? A helpless child?

"Because he's never seen me in action, obviously!" Asuka scoffed. "He wouldn't have been half as concerned if he had been at Batavia, that's for sure. But you know better, _don't you_?"

 _ **'Yes, I-I do. And I know that you are strong, b-but you should try to be more careful, Asuka...'**_

And there went Maisie, being a worry-wart, as always. As if she hadn't heard the Great Asuka Sohryu earn the praise of hundreds, if not _thousands_ , by triumphing against adversity time and time again.

...

Nevertheless, the child's concern, while misplaced, _was_ slightly touching.

"Yes, yes... quit your nagging, will you?" the redhead answered flippantly. "Anyway, I'm starting to feel like that old man was full of it. I mean, he told us that it would take us about half a day to reach Akuro, it's almost dusk, and we haven't seen the tiniest sign of any _evil, evil_ monsters. And the forest isn't exactly _preying_ on us, either."

The young woman spread her arms and gestured towards the peaceful woods surrounding them at either side with their varying shades of green and brown. With the only sound coming out of the forest being that of the swaying of the leaves and small branches to the tune of the winds, it was exceedingly hard to label this place with anything resembling danger.

Which, needless to say, didn't match up at all with the exciting mental picture that Asuka had developed after her less than pleasant exchange with _Kei-chan_.

"And here I was looking forward to a challenge." She loudly groaned. "Talk about _boring_."

 _ **'B-Boring is good. Boring is safe!'**_

The redhead rolled her eyes at the mental interjection.

"Of course _you_ would say that. Good thing that you don't have any feet, Maisie, or you would think of _walking_ as a hazard."

 _ **'That's not true!'**_

The small child's indignant response was awfully cute, she had to admit.

"Yes, it is."

 _ **'It's**_ **not** _ **!'**_

"It _is_. And I'll tell you w-"

Asuka cut herself off as the rustle of some leaves ahead caught her attention. She ordered Emil to a stop without a second thought, and immediately focused her eyes in the direction of the sound.

To find a wolf, working its way out of the shrubbery and moving to block their way, menacingly growling in their direction.

Or what she _supposed_ was a wolf, because it didn't look like any wolves she had previously seen: its fur had an unnatural purplish tinge to it, its eyes almost shone in a blood red colour, and its claws and fangs were _far_ longer than any member of the wolf family she had ever encountered. She was also quite certain that the animal before her was larger than any of its brethren, too, but that could just as easily have been something inherent to the wolves in this part of the world, rather than a product of whatever was afflicting them.

It was also acting much more aggressively than any lupines she remembered. Wolves were widely known for entering combat in numerical advantage after all, and the fact that the one in front of them had decided to come at them on his own was surprising, to say the least.

Asuka had no doubt whatsoever that the rest of the pack would be coming soon, but she couldn't help but wonder if the blatant overriding of centuries of evolution was further indication of there being indeed something very strange going on here.

Whatever the history behind the predator, however, the redhead couldn't have been happier to see it barring her way.

"He-llo~!"

Asuka's delighted tone had the very opposite effect on her partner, though.

 _ **'W-What is it?!'**_

"Relax, Maisie, it's just a wolf," the mercenary thought about her statement for a moment before feeling the need to amend it. "A very creepy, aggressive, and probably diseased wolf, but still a wolf."

 _ **'...Can we outrun it?'**_

"Probably," Asuka guessed, unhooking her trusty weapon and shield from their resting place on Emil's flank and moving to dismount. "But I didn't come all this way to shy away from danger."

 _ **'...I knew you would say that...'**_

The young woman smirked confidently at that, as she tightly affixed the shield to her left arm. Her protection's crimson and silver colouring, and the emblazoned soaring eagle never failed to bolster her spirits when faced with the prospect of battle.

And even if this battle was bound to stray very far from the stuff of legends, it was still _a_ _battle_.

"And I'd be worried if you didn't! Now hush, Maisie," Asuka entered her favoured combat stance, battle axe vertically held to the right side of her body in a two-handed grip, and walked forward towards the corrupted wolf. "The grownups are going to do some _talking_."

Not a moment after she spoke, the wolf further confirmed Asuka's suspicions on the wrongness of this place by coming after her frontally and on its own. Quickly and ferociously the beast attacked, jumping high in the air and looking to sink its elongated fangs into the soft flesh of its prey's throat...

...but finding the steel head of Asuka's axe digging into the bottom of its neck, instead.

The redhead sidestepped her enemy's slightly modified flight path and allowed it to heavily fall to the ground beside her, wheezing and whimpering as the last bits of life left its body.

Surprisingly enough, though, even in its death throes did the wolf try to desperately bite her, opening and closing its jaw in her direction.

Yet another thing to add to the list of weird facts. But Asuka had other, more important, worries at the moment.

"Tch. Missed the head by a little bit," the young woman chided herself. "I must be slightly rusty."

Mentally resolving to try her hardest at preventing any further slips (and to redouble her training the first chance she had), Asuka looked at her surroundings in search of any further hostiles and, curiously, found none.

...

That wolf had to have been _really_ ahead of the pack.

Shrugging, but not letting her guard down for the moment, the redhead allowed herself a second to check on Emil and make sure that he was all right. A single glance in her horse's direction told her as much, but her boon companion's exhaustive scanning of the surrounding forests also confirmed the presence of further enemies somewhere in their general area.

Emil had sharp instincts for that kind of thing, after all.

With that out of the way, the girl turned her attention to her fallen enemy and gave it a more careful inspection than she had been able to before, but found very little new to add to what she already knew: other than the confirmation of the fact that it was bigger, faster, and generally meaner than any wild dog she had ever encountered before, the only new detail she could make out were some weird tumour-like protuberances in the thing's flesh.

And the fact that it was bleeding _yellow_ , of all colours. Or more precisely, bleeding normal red blood mixed in with some weird and icky substance the colour of amber.

"The heck is that...?" whispered the redhead, trying to make sense of what she was watching.

It was at this moment that the young mercenary noticed a strange, sizzling sound coming from her weapon. She quickly turned her attention towards it and found the upper portion of the axe's edge coated in the same yellow stuff that was coming out of the wolf's carcass.

A closer inspection of the bizarre liquid revealed two new facts about it to Asuka: first, it was definitely too dense to be related to normal blood in any way, and, second...

... it was somehow eating away at the steel of her axe's head.

"What the-?!"

Her instincts quickly taking over in the face of an unfamiliar situation, Asuka hurried over towards the side of the road where the grass was allowed to grow freely and swiftly cleaned the offending blobs away from her prized axe.

A few vigorous brushes against the verdant ground proved enough to stop the offending sizzling, but not enough to save the affected part from heavy deterioration: every portion of the axe head that had come into prolonged contact with the yellow stuff now sported severe scorch marks, and the area's edge had also become visibly dulled. The ornamental markings in the burnt-out parts were also ruined, much to Asuka's chagrin.

"...Just my luck," she moaned, sorrowfully looking at her once glorious weapon. "This axe was brand new, too!"

And the blacksmith that had forged it would no doubt be _very_ cross with her if he ever found out. Good thing that she wasn't planning on going back to Batavia any time soon.

Repairing the damage was still going to be pretty darn expensive, though.

But those no doubt annoying thoughts were quickly pushed to the side in favour of something else: a familiar feeling, and one that many people had come to inherently associate to the redhead.

Needless to say this wolf pack, in their blood-crazed pursuit, had just made a very big, albeit involuntary, mistake.

They had just made Asuka the Red _mad._

"Okay, that's it!" she angrily shouted into the woods, her voice no doubt echoing deep inside them. "Come out, you flea-ridden mutts! I'm going to give you bastards the spanking of the century!"

Her challenging words were quickly answered by not too distant howling, coming from several different sources all around her, and it wasn't too long after she had made her way back to the middle of the road that Asuka could start making out the outlines of four-legged creatures with crimson eyes staring at her from the bushes.

The red haired warrior's face twisted into a nasty snarl, and she threateningly swung her axe around her body a few times, looking to goad the pack into starting their offensive. The enemy responded just as she had expected, and Asuka soon found herself facing two wolves before her, and another at her back.

Asuka narrowed her eyes at the sight.

Three wolves.

Three. Stupid. Wolves.

It was clear that whatever beast was in charge of the wolf pack was clearly underestimating her.

The redhead gripped her weapon slightly tighter.

 _'We'll just have to show them how wrong they are, won't we?'_

The instincts of the beast at her back must have led it to think that it was out of the effective range of her weapon, but that assumption was quickly broken when Asuka turned around to face the animal with a great stride, used her momentum to spin her body full circle and finally brought her giant weapon to bear into a powerful overhead swing that caught the wolf's midsection before it had time to run away, producing a lethal wound that would kill it momentarily.

The redhead wasted no time in inspecting her quarry, however, and instead manoeuvred both her weapon and her body into a position to receive the now charging pair of wolves that she had previously ignored.

Asuka allowed the upward momentum her weapon carried to guide her movements and then brought the axe's head back down straight into the head of the leading wolf, riding the energy of the swing once again and spinning her body into a sideways strike that caught the third wolf directly on its flank.

 _'That's three!'_

The young woman forcefully stopped her fluid motions and went back into a ready stance, quickly checking that her true strikes had left her foes out of commission and on their way to a better place. Her inspection also revealed the three wolves to bleed standard crimson, and her axe to be free of the amber stuff that had damaged it before.

Asuka couldn't really tell the reason behind the distinction, but the truth of it was that she didn't really have a lot of time to ponder about it, either.

For seven more wolves were making their way out of hiding, completely surrounding both her and her brave steed on all sides.

Which made Asuka slightly concerned about Emil's safety, even if she was confident that her companion would be able to hold his ground well enough until she could help him.

So long as she didn't take too long to deal with the brunt of the attack, of course, but she was _damn sure_ that wouldn't be a problem.

"Seven, huh? Bigger numbers won't help you, you know?" The redhead smirked confidently as she started to devise a course of action in her head. "It's a real shame that you assholes are just puny wolves, though, but hopefully you'll be a good warm-up towards something bigger."

The lupines slowly circled around, as they organized and waited for a good opportunity to strike. Asuka watched them carefully and made sure never to leave herself open to a strike towards her back, for that was the only way she could see herself suffer any kind of injury in this encounter.

In the meantime, she also used the chance to try and locate the alpha male of the pack. Taking the head out would go a long ways towards making it easier to take out the rest of the animals, after all, or maybe even intimidate them into retreat.

But all the wolves around her looked relatively similar. None of them seemed to possess neither the presence or the strength to be the leader, which probably meant that he was still hidden somewhere and looking for a chance to pounce on her.

 _'...How annoying.'_

The wolf pack took quite a bit of time to properly set up their ranks but, in the end, five of them positioned themselves to converge on Asuka while the other two moved to harass Emil and cut off any possible avenue of escape.

Not that she had ever intended to use any of them.

"Are you done mucking around, already? I've got places to be!" demanded Asuka, her patience starting to reach its all too low limits. "Come on! Who wants to be the first to die?!"

The animals answered by launching a simultaneous attack on her position, the five of them charging towards Asuka from different directions and probably looking to overwhelm her.

The redhead quickly considered the situation before her and decided on one of the strategies she had previously devised: she turned in the direction where she expected two of the animals to meet up and took a step forward, swinging her battle axe from right to left and looking to catch both of the wolves in its deadly path.

But her attack proved to not be as successful as Asuka had expected, because one of her attackers leapt out of the way of her weapon and retreated to a safe distance before she could make contact. The other wolf tried to do the same thing but couldn't completely make it, the steel head of the axe cleanly cleaving through the side of it, chopping one of its front legs off and forcing it to the ground.

Asuka heard the other three members of the pack closing in on her from behind, and responded by pulling her battle axe from its extended position and back towards her with as much strength as she could muster. She allowed the shaft of the weapon to slide through her left hand and aimed the iron-tipped bottom part of it towards the wolf closest to her, before pushing it towards its face and hitting it in mid-air, directly on its snout.

She heard a satisfying crack coming from what she assumed was the animal's skull, and the wolf harmlessly crashed against her armoured body, rebounding into the floor soon after where it remained, whining softly.

Which left two immediate concerns for Asuka to worry about, both of them quickly closing past the effective defensive circle of her battle axe. Caught in a less than ideal situation for offensive action, the redhead instead hastily erected a defensive wall with the shaft of her battle axe, parrying the bite coming towards her before it could do damage and then rotating her body to push the first wolf into the way of the second's attack.

Her defensive work proved effective and she managed to force the two corrupted beasts to the ground, where the young mercenary immediately stomped as hard as she could on one of them before it could get up, shattering its ribs and taking it out of the fight. The other swiftly recovered and retreated a few metres, standing at roughly the same distance as his surviving pack-mate and finally allowing Asuka a chance to catch her breath.

Or what would have been an opportunity to breathe, had all of Asuka's instincts not flared up at that exact moment with the order to defend herself.

Acting out of pure impulse, the redhead raised up the shield strapped to her left arm and barely managed to deflect the impact of something _huge_ , big enough and with sufficient velocity and force behind its attack to make her lose her balance and almost bring her to the ground.

Almost.

Asuka quickly scrambled into another defensive position, expecting a follow up attack from the two remaining wolves but, much to her surprise, no strike came crashing down against her defences. Curious, the young woman raised her eyes to take another look at the battlefield and found exactly that which she had supposed would be there.

Occupying one of the edges of the road and surrounded by what remained of his pack stood a hulking creature that dwarfed the wolves around it.

The alpha male, Asuka surmised, even if it was sort of astonishing considering that it looked nothing like the others. It was as if whatever it was that had twisted the other lupines into their current forms had affected the leader of the pack tenfold, turning him into a grotesque abomination that was half the size of Emil and was full of those weird tumours, rendering him almost unrecognizable.

Honestly, the only reason she could tell he was a wolf was because he moved on all fours and lead a pack of the damn things.

"...Clever boy," praised the redhead, getting herself back into proper form. "But not clever enough. What's it going to be now, big guy? I can go another round, I'm not even sweating!"

And her words were not all boast, for she was indeed not feeling the slightest bit winded after the short skirmish. The redhead didn't even have to worry about Emil anymore, as the pair of wolves that had been harassing him had fallen back next to the alpha male as well, allowing the horse a clear path to return to her side.

She _was_ starting to have some trouble seeing her enemies, however.

 _'I'm going to have to end this sooner rather than later, though. It's starting to get dark.'_

The remains of the wolf pack seemed unsure about how to continue their attack, but that suited Asuka just fine: if the enemy would not come to her, then _she_ would go to the enemy. Her weapon was better suited towards offensive action, anyway, and one defensive clash was already more than enough for her taste.

She had almost taken her first step forward when a familiar sizzling sound reached her ears. She looked at her axe's head in surprise and her eyes widened at finding almost its entire surface covered in the same yellow substance she had seen before.

" _Not again!_ " a different sizzling sound coming from the other side brought her attention to her left arm. " _Scheiße!_ Not the shield, too!"

The redhead quickly used the grass at her feet to brush away the worst of the offending goop, but the harm was already done.

The damage to her protection was mostly cosmetic (although still every bit as irksome), but the edge of the axe was ruined, and the burns had spread all the way to the cross section of the weapon. It could probably still be used in a relatively effective manner, but it was looking awfully brittle and Asuka feared that a harsh impact would break off the axe head from the haft and leave her wielding a useless piece of wood at the worst of times.

 _'That wolf I cleaved first must have been the same as that other one," mused the redhead, remembering her first encounter with the amber liquid. 'But how did my shield get covered in it? The only one that hit it...'_

Asuka's eyes fell on the biggest member of the pack and didn't take long to find the answer to her question.

 _'...Come on, seriously?! You_ drool _that stuff?! It can go through steel! How the heck are you not_ dead _?!'_

In any case and regardless of the alpha male's unbelievable slobber, offensive action wasn't looking as appealing, anymore. Not with her current weapon, anyway.

She could always fall back to using the knife she kept strapped to the small of her back, of course, but against multiple enemies her backup weapon would prove less than ideal. The redhead was confident she could still win a fight against what remained of the pack using only her secondary arms, but chances were she would not escape harm while doing so.

And while Asuka was not a stranger to bruises and cuts, something told her that she _didn't_ want to get injured in any serious manner by these things.

Which meant that they were at a stalemate, and one that would only work against her the longer it went: she couldn't attack without fear of crippling injury, she couldn't mount and run without leaving both herself and Emil open to attack, and her enemies could either just afford to wait until dark for fatigue to catch up to her, or for more nasties to converge on her position, neither of which were particularly appealing options at the moment.

It was clear that Asuka needed to find a way to break the standstill as soon as possible.

...

...Or would have, had a third party not decided to do that for her.

Suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere came a second huge beast, even bigger still than the alpha male of the wolf pack, crushing one of the smaller wolfs under its weight as it pounced on the helpless wild dog. The beast followed its attack with a heavy swipe of its claws towards the second closest wolf, fatally wounding it and sending it crashing against another of its kin.

The unidentified animal moved to attack a third time, but an attempted bite from the alpha male forced it to retreat a few steps back to safety. A follow-up strike from the head wolf was likewise stopped by a well placed swipe, and the two animals were forced into a staring contest of sorts, sizing each other up.

A contest that was quickly ended by the bigger of the two letting out a powerful roar that left Asuka's ears ringing and intimidated what remained of the alpha wolf's pack into tailing it back to the forest. The alpha male himself, without any support and quickly realizing he was the weakest of the two remaining predators, followed soon after.

Which, as a result, couldn't have been any less useful to a certain redhead. Those two fighting it out for just a few seconds would have given her the perfect opportunity to leave them at it and retreat.

 _'Oh, come on! Get back here you damn cowards!'_

But instead, she was now stuck with quite literally an even bigger problem than before.

A bigger problem that _looked_ like a tiger, except for some traits didn't quite fit with what Asuka had read about them. It had no stripes, for starters, and its fur was of a dark colour she couldn't quite make out in the poor lighting. She would also hazard a guess towards it being slightly bigger than the most common descriptions claimed, but a closer inspection would be needed to confirm such a fact and _that_ was not an idea that the redhead was keen on.

She would have attributed the differences to a different species of the animals but as far as she knew, tigers were not native to Yamato in the first place!

Yet another weird thing to add to the day's tally.

In any case, with a heavily deteriorated weapon and shield, and a back-up knife that surely was even less of a smart choice at the moment, discretion was indeed looking like the better part of valour with every passing second. And Asuka would need to take her chances on that sooner rather than later, because Emil was starting to visibly freak out in the presence of the hulking predator.

Not surprising, really. Small-fry wolves he could handle, no problem. But a tiger, or whatever that thing was?

Her partner was loyal, but not stupid.

Yes, retreating and trying to rush it as fast as she could in Akuro's direction was clearly the only intelligent choice here. And so, the redhead slowly and carefully grabbed Emil's reins and started to pull him towards her, whispering soothing words of encouragement to try and calm him down while keeping a constant vigil on the animal in front of them.

...

An animal that, surprisingly enough, didn't look... hostile?

Sure, it was keeping a watchful eye on her but it was not making any offensive moves beyond that. In a surprising twist against everything she had heard about tigers, the big cat seemed content with squinting its eyes at her.

Not that she was complaining.

It was then that Asuka noticed the lack of weird tumours sprouting from the beast's flesh, and that it didn't seem to possess any of the exaggerated traits the previous wolves had had. Maybe that had something to do with it being so tame?

She shook her head slightly before getting rid of that ridiculous notion. A wild animal was just that: a wild animal. The tiger might have been less aggressive than its predecessors, but it was probably just looking to stake a claim on its dinner. No doubt considered her to be little threat, as well.

Which suited her just fine at the moment. Better to leave the animal to its feast before it changed its mind.

 _'Easy there. You just start eating and we'll be on our merry way.'_ Asuka's face twisted slightly in disgust. _'Although there's no way eating_ that _could be good for your health. Yuck.'_

The redhead had one foot halfway towards the stirrup when she noticed the tiger starting to move forward towards her. One step at a time and almost in a lazy manner it advanced, and while it wasn't exactly baring its fangs at them, there was no indication that it was looking to be petted, either.

 _'Scheiße. What now?'_

Throwing herself up on the saddle as best as she could and making a run for it looked like the only way out of this mess. The problem with that was that the predator was now very close to a reasonable pouncing distance from them, and while Asuka knew that Emil was one of the fastest and strongest stallions she could have possibly gotten her hands on, she very much doubted that he could outrun a tiger. Certainly not in the very first seconds.

But she could see no other escape from the situation other than making such a desperate move and wishing for the best. And while Asuka had never liked to rely on the whims of Lady Luck, it looked like fate had deemed it so for her to have no choice at all.

...

Although Lady Luck had arguably helped her out of a sticky situation, already. Maybe she was feeling generous today?

 _'Well, only one way to find out.'_

She was about to put both her luck and Emil's fitness to the ultimate test, when an iron-tipped wooden bolt struck the ground the tiger was going to step on next, causing it to recoil and jump back to its starting position.

The unmistakable sound of horse hooves striking the ground followed, coming from further up the road, and the beast seemed to consider its options for a few moments. Eyes jumping between the source of the noise and Asuka, it ultimately decided that retreat into the forest was probably a wise move for the time being.

And as the great animal's frame broke through the branches and leaves in its withdrawal, the redhead let out a relieved breath she didn't know she had been holding.

 _'Okay, that was close._ Way _too close for comfort, in fact.'_ Asuka directed an annoyed glare towards the skies, as if she was trying to strike down an invisible entity. _'...You show-off.'_

The sound of hooves grew in intensity, and soon after two riders made it far enough into her line of sight for Asuka to properly see them. The leading rider let out an appreciative whistle.

"That was one very good shot. And it looks like we made it just in time, too!" The rider's eyes fell on the wolf carcasses littering the entire road, and she felt the need to amend her statement. "...Or maybe not."

The two newcomers were a man and a woman, the former visibly younger than the latter, both clad in the kind of light armour the Yamese warriors were known to favour. The young mercenary couldn't make out their weaponry from her position but it was certainly nothing bulky, and it looked like they were friendly, anyway.

"You were quick enough to be helpful, I guess," replied Asuka as she worked her way up on Emil's saddle. "Who are you people, anyway?"

"Misato Katsuragi's the name," the woman answered with an easy smile and a wink. "But what say we leave the lengthy introductions for _after_ we are out of the deadly woods, ne?"

-]LotF[-

"Okay, that should be far enough to slow down. Our friends don't usually come this close to the castle walls."

The mauve-haired woman led by example and gently ordered her horse to slow down, signalling for the two younger warriors following her to do the same. Asuka complied without protest, but mentally noted that they hadn't been riding for all that long, five minutes at most.

She must have really been as close to Akuro as she had estimated, before.

The Katsuragi woman rode her horse in front of Emil once the group had come to a complete stop, while the man accompanying her (or rather, boy, now that Asuka took a good look at him) did the same at her side.

"So, like I said earlier: my name's Misato Katsuragi, and I'm the Captain and head of Akuro's standing militia," she motioned towards the boy with her head. "That frowning young man at your side is Toji Suzuhara, a member in training. May I have the name of the daring woman that just managed to brave what few others have?"

Asuka took a good look at the older female before responding. The smile that was plastered on the woman's face might have looked inviting enough for most, but the spark behind her eyes and the way she casually inspected the redhead's weapons, armour, and body, let Asuka know without a hint of doubt that she was being measured, presumably with the intent of finding out whether the redhead was a threat or not.

It was probably safe to assume that this Misato character knew what she was doing.

In regards to her appearance, the first thing that had stood out to Asuka during their first frantic meeting and that still did, was the colour of the Captain's long hair. It was slightly longer than hers, and of a strange kind of lavender colour that could have easily been mistaken for common black in the midst of the darkness around them. Definitely a colour Asuka hadn't seen on a lot of people.

Katsuragi also had a physique fitting of the position that she claimed to hold. Tall enough to be on the less affected side of the gender size differences, and with long enough arms to properly make use of the Yamese sword she had strapped to her back. Asuka had no doubt that there would be plenty of muscle hiding beneath the woman's strategically placed metal plates, too.

Overall, Asuka would say that Katsuragi was probably one woman she should try not to anger, as well as probably popular among the males. A pretty face and dark eyes, coupled with a fit body, and a... _generous_ size on that part of the female anatomy that always brought the worst in men.

More than usual, anyway. Men really were simple and annoying creatures.

...

Except for Mr. Kaji, of course.

"Asuka. Asuka Sohryu," the redhead ultimately answered. She then looked the Captain straight in the eye and gave her the most confident of smiles. "Although you'll probably end up knowing me as Asuka the Red, eventually."

Misato raised an eyebrow in wonder, and her smile became a little less fake.

"Oh, I see. So you're the adventuring type, huh? Travel the land, kill the bad guys, and sell everything that's not nailed to the floor at the closest market, am I right?"

"...I guess?" Asuka blinked in confusion at the Captain's words. "You got three out of four right, anyway."

 _'Where did that last one come from?'_

The woman chuckled to herself, and Asuka couldn't help but think she had missed some sort of joke. A quick glance at the other person in the trio revealed that he wasn't laughing either, so at least she wasn't alone in that.

The Suzuhara boy was still looking at her with a weird expression, though.

"In any case, a pleasure to meet you, Sohryu-san." Katsuragi turned to address the boy. "Stand down, Suzuhara-kun, I think she's safe."

The young man nodded and did as he was told, separating his horse from Emil slightly. He still kept his eyes locked on Asuka, though, much to the girl's chagrin.

 _'Can you stop staring at me like I've grown two heads while you're at it? Weirdo.'_

The kind of look she was receiving was far from being flattering. Not that the one sending it was any better: tall, muscular, and with sharp features framed by short, black hair. Asuka could think of many women that would think of the kind of man Suzuhara represented as exactly the perfect type, but she personally couldn't stand them.

Muscle-for-brains that were good for little else other than following simple commands, with Yuri's goons as the prime example of their ilk. She had little interest in those, and had been forced to put several of their kind back in their place over the years, to boot.

Of course, she had zero evidence outside of the voice of experience to put Suzuhara in that camp, but Asuka had the sinking feeling that the two of them weren't going to be looking eye to eye in the future.

In any case, the redhead wasn't feeling up to anymore fighting today. And there was no reason to go out of her way and make enemies on her very first day in Yamato, so she was trying to keep her annoyance at the boy's scrutiny from getting to her.

Quite the herculean task, to be sure.

"You're not from around here, are you, Sohryu-san?"

Misato's question broke the redhead out of her train of thought, and Asuka jumped a bit at the unexpected question before turning to look at the woman.

"Your hair," the Captain continued, nodding at Asuka's fiery mane. "Red's not a hair colour that I've ever seen in Yamato, and I've lived here all my life. I bet that Suzuhara-kun is thinking the same thing, with the way that he keeps looking at you." She paused for a moment, then sent an impish look Suzuhara's way. "Or is it something else, I wonder~."

Katsuragi's comment elicited an annoyed groan and a dirty look from the boy.

"Knock it off, Captain."

His words carried a mix of aggravation and warning, which told Asuka in no uncertain terms that this kind of teasing was a recurring thing with the Captain. Cursing her luck, the redhead had to fight down the urge to echo Suzuhara's sigh with one of her own.

She hated jokers. And Asuka would be willing to bet on Misato turning out to be one of the worst offenders.

The boy went back to staying quiet after saying his piece, and turned to look at the redhead expectantly.

"Well?" Katsuragi insisted.

At least she sounded genuinely curious, and didn't seem to be asking in order to decide Asuka's fate, or anything like that. Figuring that things would go well enough so long as she didn't slip out her actual origins, the redhead decided to be as honest as she could safely afford and put on a winning smile.

"You're right, I'm not Yamese. I was sort of hoping that my name and appearance would cover that fact, but the hair's a dead giveaway, isn't it? I was warned about it, as well. Too bad I couldn't keep it hidden."

"Not that it would have helped you much, I'm afraid. You would have been asked to show your face at the gates no matter what, by me or anyone else. We are not taking any chances with things as they are, right now."

"Makes sense." The younger woman agreed, before her smile took on a boastful air. "Oh, well. At least that means that the world won't miss out on any of my beauty."

A scoff and a dry response came immediately after.

"The gaijin's modest."

Asuka blinked at Suzuhara's words, and then had to use all of her willpower on keeping her smile in place the very moment recognition hit her.

 _Gaijin._ She'd heard that word before. A derogatory term that the Yamese used to use when talking about outsiders back when they were heavy isolationists. The redhead was somewhat surprised at actually being called one, since as far as she knew the term had fallen into disuse after Yamato opened its trade routes to the world at the end of the war fifteen years ago.

Then again, that was probably tradition speaking. There were bound to be imbeciles standing in the way of progress at every turn, after all. Doubly so on this particular piece of rock.

In any case, Asuka could feel her anger rising up at the insult, but somehow managed to just barely keep it in check. Even if her blowing up at meathead would have been completely justified (there _was_ a difference between trying not to stir up a fight and letting a backwards idiot walk all over you, after all), it wasn't worth the possible backlash and loss of face at this time.

She'd make sure to deal with the ape-brain on some other occasion, when there were no important witnesses around.

Besides, it was clear that his words had not earned him the good Captain's approval, if the look that she levelled in his direction was any indication.

"Suzuhara!" at the imposing mention of his name, baboon-boy jumped so high that he almost fell from on top his horse. "You'll refrain from using such language while representing the Watchers!"

"Yes, Captain!" he automatically replied, bowing down as far as he could without further endangering his balance. "I-It was a slip of the tongue."

To his credit, the boy _did_ look reasonably ashamed. Honest, too.

Then again, Katsuragi had just proven that she could be pretty darn scary. Even Asuka had felt slightly intimidated at the woman's order, and she had not been at the receiving end of it! The Captain had kind of reminded her of her old army instructor in that moment.

Only without being a perverted asshole.

Still, the name Misato had dropped had stuck to Asuka's mind.

 _'The Watchers? Is that a name for the militia, or something?'_

Such an assumption made sense, considering that Katsuragi had presented herself as a militia Captain, but the redhead made a mental note to ask the woman about it later.

For now, she was content with just being a spectator to Suzuhara's dressing down.

"Then make sure it doesn't happen again. Like it or not, you are fully aware of Akuro's policy regarding foreigners." The woman's features softened slightly and she continued in a less commanding tone. "Plus, Sohryu-san here has nothing to do with Horaki-chan being angry at you, remember? You walked into that one all by yourself."

Suzuhara's face contorted in remembrance of some past event and he sighed gloomily, suddenly looking quite a few years younger than he was.

"Yes, Captain."

"Good. We're almost at the forest's edge. Ride ahead and tell the gatekeeper that we're coming, will you?"

The young man nodded morosely and ordered his mount forward, quickly distancing himself from the other two. Both women followed the direction of his departure with their eyes until Suzuhara's form finally took a turn on the road and disappeared behind some trees, a feat that took some time considering the decreasing foliage around them.

Once he was clearly out of earshot Katsuragi restarted the journey and motioned for Asuka to do the same, before turning to her with a contrite expression.

"I suppose that you're familiar with the term ' _gaijin_ ', Sohryu-san?"

"Yeah, I am."

There was no point in lying.

"I expected as much," continued Misato, apologetically. "Can I ask you not to hold that against Toji? We are all a bit on edge lately, and he's honestly had a pretty shitty day, to boot."

It must be mentioned that Asuka Sohryu was known for being good at many things, but letting go of grudges was not among them. And while that little episode with ape-man could hardly be considered grudge material, a non-too-small part of her was still loathe to just call it all water under the bridge.

Then again, the redhead surmised that it was in her best interest to stay on Misato's good side for as long as possible, if not ever. And, to be honest, Asuka had had her own fair share of shitty days, the only difference being that her own tended to involve _far_ worse things than calling an outsider just that in a rude fashion.

All things considered, and annoying as it may be, the redhead guessed that she could cut Suzuhara some slack just this once. If there's one thing that her adventures throughout the world had taught her, after all, it was that you never knew when you'd be forced to ask a favour out of someone.

Better not to burn any bridges if she could help it.

Besides, it looked like this 'Horaki' was already giving the boy hell as it was. That alone was already worthy of Asuka's interest, but the kind of honorific that Katsuragi had used probably meant that 'Horaki' was a young woman of some description, too.

Any girl around the redhead's age possessing enough confidence and smarts to handle meat-brains like Suzuhara in the way they deserved, was more than worthy of her attention.

"Fair enough," the young woman acquiesced. "I expect an apology later, though."

"And I'll try to make sure that you get one. Toji might be headstrong, and more than a little old-fashioned, but he's not a bad kid." Misato allowed her previous smile to blossom on her face once again before changing the topic. "But coming back to you, what _is_ your relationship to Yamato? Like you said, your name and appearance would have fooled me had it not been for the colour of your hair, and your Yamese is almost perfect."

"I was born here, as far as I know, but I don't really have any memories of it," answered Asuka, making sure not to go into uncomfortable details. "Someone that used to be a native taught me the language and some of the customs, and when I happened upon a chance to travel to Yamato, I figured that it was as good as any other destination. I've been to a few interesting locations along the way too, so I'm not regretting the decision so far."

"I see. Well, whoever taught you did a good job of it. Were they a relative of yours?"

Asuka's eyes widened at the unexpected question. Or more precisely, at the less than joyous thoughts and memories that the Captain had inadvertently brought to the forefront of her mind.

 _'...Well, yes and no. It was mostly Mr. Kaji, but it was also...'_

The redhead's sudden silence and contemplative stare was all the answer the mauve-haired woman needed.

"...Looks like I put my foot in my mouth," she sighed. "Touchy subject?"

When she responded, the young woman's voice was much more restrained than Misato had come to expect from Asuka. Made her look quite a few years younger, too.

"...Sort of."

"Don't feel obligated to answer, then. In any case, you must be tired after so much travelling, so what say we start moving a bit faster?" Katsuragi followed her words by nudging her horse into a light trot. "We wouldn't want the night to catch up to us before we get to the castle, either. So come on, let's get going."

The redhead mimicked the Captain's actions and ordered Emil into the same kind of pace, right beside her. She also shook her head to rid it of unwanted thoughts and promptly latched onto the change of topic that Misato had indirectly proposed.

"Thanks. It's really hospitable of you to have me, by the way."

The Captain waved a hand in dismissal.

"Don't thank me yet, I don't really have the last word on that. But I'd be honestly surprised if we ended up sending you back the way you came, considering that you're already lucky enough to have made it this far in the first place." Misato's face darkened slightly and she seemed to hesitate slightly before speaking again. "Am I correct in thinking that your travelling companions weren't as fortunate?"

The woman must have been worried about bringing yet more depressing thoughts to the redhead's mind. Thankfully, though, there was nothing to worry about on that front.

"Nah," lightly reassured the crimson mercenary. "I was travelling on my own."

And promptly caused Katsuragi to recoil in shock.

"Wait, you came _alone_?"

Asuka's response had come naturally, without any real thought put into it. After all, her going off by herself to handle secondary jobs while Yuri and his troupe did their thing at the local markets had been the rule of thumb since their initial contract. She was used to working alone, so Katsuragi's disbelief had caught the young mercenary slightly off-guard on that front.

Which only made Asuka's smug follow-up response feel all the more deserving to the redhead.

"That's what I just said, isn't it?"

Misato studied the woman beside her intently for any signs of deceit, from the boastful way in which she was holding her head high while puffing her chest all the way to imagining what her now ruined armaments must once have looked like.

She finished her appraisal with a commending whistle and a chuckle.

"And you don't appear to be making that up, either. Now I'm left wondering if you're right in the head, though. I mean, I'm pretty sure that stories about the state of the road should have started circulating by now, right?"

"They have. One of the people over at Otaru was almost desperate to keep me from leaving, but I honestly don't get what the big deal was." Asuka rolled her eyes as _Kei-chan's_ vain attempts at stopping her came to mind. "Sure, the wolves were bigger and meaner than usual, but I was expecting more than a single interruption during the trip after all the fuss."

"You only got attacked _once_ all the way from Otaru?" The same shocked look from before reappeared on Katsuragi's face for a moment, before she shook her head and started to laugh heartily. "Okay, so you're not just insane, you're insanely lucky. And probably have a death wish, too. In any case, good to know!"

"I don't have a death wish, I'm just that good!" The young woman narrowed her eyes at her senior. "Do you make a habit out of insulting people with a smile on your face, by the way?"

"Only when I like them," Misato replied cheekily. She then indicated the area ahead of the pair with her head. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to wait on any questions you may have, Sohryu-san. We're here."

Asuka broke her gaze away from the Captain and noticed, to her surprise, that they had left the forest behind a short while ago without her noticing. She then turned to look in the direction Misato was staring and found herself at the foot of a small hill, grey with rocks and assorted gravel and lacking in much of the greenery that she had seen until now.

Atop said hill, the redhead could make out a line of torches along a wall made out of stone and wood, and a pair of towers poking out from somewhere within the fortifications. She could also barely distinguish a third tower overlooking the other two, probably built upon elevated ground as per Yamese standards. The tower was structurally fancy, multi-storied and with that style of curved, elaborate and admittedly pretty style of cover to differentiate the levels.

Judging from the flashiness of it, it was probably safe to assume that the third tower was the castle keep.

All in all, Akuro castle wasn't exceedingly big. Quite the opposite, actually; As a matter of fact, Asuka would have been willing to bet money on her having been to training forts of the Imperial military _bigger_ than Akuro castle seemed to be.

A sudden light breeze of wind hit the redhead with the all-too-recent and familiar smell of the sea. Curious, she focused on the sounds around her, and managed to make out the tune of the sea crashing against a cliff-face somewhere in the distance, probably behind the castle.

 _'...So this is Akuro. Looks like Mr. Kaji and Yuri were right. It doesn't look like much, even for a Yamese castle.'_ The girl shrugged internally at the unimpressive sight. _'Oh, well. A smaller size will definitely make things easier on myself, at least.'_

"Hey, Asuka!"

Misato's unexpected cry harshly broke the redhead from her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Race you to the top!" the Captain exclaimed tauntingly, kicking her horse into a gallop up the hill. "Last one there is a rotten tomato!"

And leaving behind a momentarily stunned young woman.

"R-Really? A rotten tomato? How old is she, _five_?!"

Despite her sarcastic words the redhead didn't waste any time in launching Emil up the steep climb, kicking him forward at the very same moment they left her mouth.

...

Just for the sake of not losing sight of Katsuragi, of course.

Being the brave, steadfast and strong Imperial steed that he was, Emil had little trouble in catching up to Misato's cowardly early start. Noticing that the redhead had caught up with her, and taking the silly race _far_ more seriously than Asuka ever would, Katsuragi pressed her mount forward even harder with the clear intention of not giving up without a fight.

All of her efforts amounted to little gain, though, for Emil wasn't Asuka the Red's loyal companion for nothing. It was admittedly a hard fought battle, but by the time the contenders reached the finish line Asuka had managed to lead the race by half a body.

"Oh, you got me!" lamented the Captain with plenty of ham-fisted theatrics, as she ordered her horse to a stop. "Laaaaame."

"Well, _of course_ we did," the redhead boasted while giving her partner a few congratulatory pats. "Emil and I both have big names to live up to!"

The former let out a disinterested snort and started to munch on one of the few and far between patches of green grass, much to the chagrin of the posing redhead.

"Indeed you do. You have a fine horse," praised Katsuragi, smiling slightly at the scene. "Make sure you take good care of him."

For a split-second Asuka thought she saw a strange glint to the woman's eye, but then Misato's earlier words turned prophetic and the redhead let out a big, tired yawn. By the time the young woman's face had returned back to its usual position, there was no sign of Katsuragi ever having done anything out of place.

Asuka narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment, but quickly decided to let the matter rest.

 _'Must have been my imagination.'_

"Don't fall asleep on me yet, kiddo." The older woman joked, before turning towards the gate and shouting at the other side. "Captain Katsuragi here, with a guest that managed to single-handedly make her way through the forest! Open up!"

A yell of acknowledgment came from the other end and the unmistakable sound of moving iron chains filled the air. Soon after, the heavy wooden door split down the middle and slowly opened to the sides, allowing the pair access into the castle and a foreign redhead her first look into a Yamese fortress.

Not that she could make out a whole lot more than the pair of towers she had identified earlier, the walls closest to her, the torches all along the keep walls in the middle of the complex, and a few wooden buildings in the area in between. The structures looked like workshops, with what appeared to be a blacksmith's catching the girl's eye immediately. Another small construction close to the walls had what looked like weapon racks on its side, so chances were that the militia training grounds lay somewhere in that general area.

There was little else of importance that Asuka could see from her position close to the gates, but she could infer from what little she knew about the layout of Yamese castles that there was bound to be more stuff both around the central elevated island that housed the keep, and on the island itself.

Failing at holding down another yawn, Asuka decided to leave any further attempts at distinguishing the castle's features up until the next morning when the lighting would prove more helpful. She turned to look in the Captain's direction, and found her talking to one of her subordinates a few steps away.

One of the few people in the immediate area that weren't imitating ape-man's actions from before and looking at Asuka like she was some sort of alien entity, by the way.

 _'Good grief.'_

Sighing in annoyance and ignoring the awfully unsubtle stares and whispers, the redhead walked closer to Misato and caught wind of the conversation taking place.

"Someone get a hold of Ikari-dono," commanded Katsuragi. "And ask him if he can greet us at the keep's main room in about... an hour?"

"Ikari- _dono_?" asked Asuka, recognizing the honorific's meaning. "Is that the one in charge of the castle?"

"Yep, he is," confirmed the Captain. "I'm arranging for you to have a personal meeting with him, so that you may introduce yourself."

Asuka tried, and failed miserably, to smile and keep a straight face at the news.

 _'Gee, thanks, Misato. Meeting a stinking noble is_ exactly _the foremost thing in my mind right now. How'd you guess?'_

"...Is it necessary?"

Her obvious lack of enthusiasm wasn't lost on the woman, and Katsuragi offered her a supportive smile orders of magnitude more genuine than the redhead's was proving to be.

"It's only common courtesy to meet the Lord of the area you'll be staying in. It's mostly for formality's sake, so it won't be long, I promise."

The Captain muttered something to herself after that, in a voice too low for Asuka to catch most of it. The only parts she managed to understand were _'Rei-chan'_ and _'the end of it'_.

"Huh? What was that?"

The older woman's eyes jumped to the redhead in slight surprise, and she quickly waved away her concern with a dismissing hand.

"Just rambling to myself, don't worry about it." Misato's voice took on a lighter tone. "But hey! Before we go anywhere, how does a bath sound?"

At the sound of the magic word and the chance of washing away all of the accumulated grime since _way_ too long, Asuka promptly forgot about any questions and felt her broken smile instantly became as honest as it could be.

"Heavenly!"

* * *

 **A/N:** As always, reviews are welcome and coveted, dear reader. Future updates and snippets can be found at the time they are developed in the 'User Fiction' sub-forum of the Sufficient Velocity forums. Come join the discussion over there if you feel like giving me a hand as a write, as it would be much appreciated.

See you next time.


	4. A Meeting of Fate - Part 1

The battle was long and gruelling, the combatants determined to fight to the bitter end no matter the cost. Unfortunately for Asuka's hair, the victor of the contest had been a foregone conclusion from the very start. It was impossible to derail one Asuka Sohryu from her objective once she set her mind to something, after all.

And what a result it was: her body had been steadfastly rinsed of all unclean elements, her glorious mane had been tamed and brought back from its previous attempts at imitating the mythical Medusa, and she now emanated a fresh and pleasing fruity smell, of the strawberry variety.

She had to admit that for all of their overall backwardness, the Yamese really knew what they were doing as far as hygiene went. The outside of the Akuro baths didn't look like much, what with them being housed inside a pretty small wooden building off to the side of the main complex, but the inside had surpassed any expectations that Asuka might have had.

It was neat and organized, with very clearly separated areas: closest to the entrance was a zone for changing out of clothes and storing them, followed by a row of independent wooden stalls up against the wall filled with accessories for bathing, and finally, a relatively big tub at the end of the room, filled with hot water and large enough for three or four people to use at the same time.

 _'Yeah, these guys like their baths, and I'm really thankful for that!'_ Asuka ran her fingers through her hair and smiled widely at the lack of resistance to her movement. _'This is_ so _much better.'_

Standing up from the stall she had just used to bring herself back to her standard radiance, the redhead walked towards the tub in the corner and wasted no time in submerging herself in the hot water. Within just a scant few seconds she could feel the tense and tired muscles of her body loosen and unclench themselves as the heat of the bath worked its magic, and Asuka couldn't help but let out a deep and drawn-out moan of agreement when every nerve from the tip of her toes to the top of her head thanked her for her actions in perfect unison.

 _'...This is_ glorious _.'_

The young woman's smile widened even more, and she made herself as comfortable as she could within the wooden bathtub, stretching her legs far and wide and resting her head on the edge of the tub.

There was no one around to complain, after all.

 _'Okay, I've decided. No more travelling, no more adventuring, and no more blind chases. I'm staying here and that's it.'_

It was truly a moment of pure, unadulterated bliss, the kinds of the redhead had never really had the chance to experience back at home. And one that Asuka was heavily tempted to extend to the rest of her life, audience with Ikari-dono be _damned_.

But such an eternal boon was sadly not in the cards for her at the moment. Considering that she was a stranger in an even stranger land, it wouldn't do to anger the equivalent of her homeland's pompous and all-too-powerful nobles. Such behaviour tended to land you into trouble pretty darn fast in the homeland, and Asuka had the niggling suspicion that _that_ would be one of the few instances in which Yamato and the Empire wouldn't differ from each other.

"And I wouldn't hear the end of it from Maisie, either..."

But she would allow herself to enjoy this watery paradise for a few minutes longer, nonetheless. She estimated that there were still around twenty-five minutes remaining until the meeting, so with that in mind, she closed her eyes and allowed her thoughts to drift in a more agreeable direction, like Mr. Kaji or the still fresh celebrations of her victory in Batavia.

She was happily recalling the feeling of swinging her then brand-new axe for the first time...

...When the girl's eyes shot open in blind panic.

" _Crap, I forgot about Maisie!_ "

Forgetting about her enjoyable experience in a flash, Asuka quickly stood up from the bath, carelessly splashing water all around her. She grabbed hold of the towel she had initially been planning to use some time later and started to work on drying herself, while focusing on the familiar presence of her lifelong friend at the same time...

 _ **"-KAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**_

...And wincing at the shrill and _very_ loud scream that suddenly assaulted her senses.

 _ **"...AAAAASUUUKAAAAA!"**_

The redhead grunted in pain and put a hand to her forehead, as what felt like a volley of cannon blasts continuously thundered inside her mind in the form of the scared voice of a little girl. The barrage extended for some time, Asuka couldn't exactly tell how much, until finally the constant calling out of her name came to a stop.

 _ **"...S-She's not answering..."**_

Only to be replaced by a hopeless line with a terrified undertone that tugged a little at the redhead's heartstrings.

A tugging that was entirely overshadowed by Asuka's annoyance at having her mind turned into a battlefield.

"As if I you would have heard me with all that shouting."

In spite of the scathing and almost hateful tone in which the redhead muttered her remark, the feeling of loneliness and terror that had dominated Maisie's presence jumped to the other end of the spectrum almost instantly.

 _ **"...A-Asuka?"**_

Asuka sighed deeply as she felt Maisie tentatively probe their link until the runt was fully convinced that, yes, it was Asuka who had just talked and, no, none of the no doubt disastrous scenarios her overactive imagination had concocted had actually befallen the redhead.

The sound of a relieved sob very much confirmed the incoming scenario Asuka expected, though.

 _'Here come the waterworks.'_

At least this time the young woman had the chance to brace for impact.

 _ **"IT'S REALLY YOU! AAAAASUUUKAAAAA!"**_ the ecstatic cry hit the redhead's mental wall with the force of ten rams. _ **"WAAAAAH! YOU'RE O-OKAY! YOU'RE OKAY! I WAS SO WORRIED! I C-CALLED AND CALLED BUT YOU DID-DN'T ANSWER! AND..."**_

Gods help her. If Asuka ever found a way to turn Maisie's tantrums into a weapon, not even the strongest of the world's armies would ever be able to stand in her way.

So long as she ended up finding a way to shield herself from the strident onslaught, of course. That in and of itself was still a work in progress.

"Ouch! A little lower, Maisie! Actually, a _lot_ lower!"

Asuka very much realized from past, less explosive, experience that trying to reach Maisie whenever she got like this was almost impossible, but there was no harm in trying.

Maybe a miracle would occur, or something.

 _ **"IT WAS VERY QUIET FOR TOO LONG, AND YOU DIDN'T ANSWER, AND I WAS SCARED, AND, AND... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"**_

"Damn it, Maisie, I get it!" the redhead roared at the top of her lungs. "Just calm down, all right?!"

But there would be no easy way of calming down Maisie, as Asuka very quickly found out. Resigned to letting the little girl vent her worries out while she tried to get a calming word here and there in, the redhead continued with her previous task of drying herself and getting dressed as best as her currently diminished abilities would allow.

Eventually the loud crying became soft sobbing, and from then further subsided into heavy breathing. Sighing in relief, Asuka silently thanked whatever Gods were watching over her for stopping the infernal racket in her mind.

And it only took them a short eternity, too. The Gods _could_ be generous sometimes, it looked like.

 _ **"...Sorry."**_

Again with the implied puppy-eyes: the perfect defence that always saved Maisie from suffering the characteristic wrath of a certain redhead. And considering that pretty much anyone else on the Earth would have cursed the day they decided to upset Asuka Sohryu in the manner Maisie just had, that was saying something.

...Is this what having a little sister was all about?

"I'm sorry too, don't worry about it," breathed out Asuka through gritted teeth. "A lot of stuff happened and you just sort of slipped my mind. But I'm perfectly fine, okay?"

Because, honestly? If having a little sister was half as annoying as having Maisie around was, Asuka just couldn't wrap her head around why Marcus had always kept on singing the praises of having siblings.

 _ **"I'm glad to hear that. I don't know what I would do if you suddenly-"**_

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Asuka cut the girl off before she thought up another fantasy scenario and ended up starting yet another riot. She very much doubted she could take another one of those today. "Don't worry about that, will you?"

 _ **"O-Okay, sorry. What were you doing?"**_

"Enjoying the pleasures of Yamese bathing, until a certain someone came to mind and I decided to get out."

 _ **"Oh, sorry. Y-You can go back if you want, I'll stay quiet."**_

Asuka gritted her teeth and exhaled slowly through them, doing her best to remain calm. It mostly worked, but if she heard the S-word _one more time_ she was going to hit something. _Hard_.

"Yeah, not happening, I'm afraid," the redhead finished slipping into her undergarments and reached out for the next piece of clothing. "We have to get going to a meeting soon anyway, so you can yammer on all you want in the meantime. I'm sure you have plenty of piled-up stuff to talk to me ab-"

Asuka's ears caught the sound of harried footsteps outside, and she cut herself off mid-sentence. The footfalls were swiftly coming closer to the building she occupied, and showed no signs of stopping.

The redhead made out an anxious sounding voice amidst the sounds and felt her eyes widen in surprise.

 _'Wait a minute! That sounded like a-'_

Asuka's suspicions were soon confirmed when the door to the baths was thrown open by a panicked-looking young man she didn't recognize.

"What happened?!"

The only response he received, were a shrill scream and a thrown pail to his upper midsection.

"Bwuh?!"

Caught off-guard by the makeshift projectile, the black haired youth leaned against the wall for balance and tried to pinpoint the source of the attack.

He focused on Asuka, opened his mouth to say something,

...and _stared_.

Much to the indignant embarrassment of the bath's only occupant.

"GET OUT!"

To his credit, the kneeling man managed to tear his eyes away and splutter something when faced with the irate command.

"W-Wait! I-I heard a scream and-!"

But it was too little, too late. In the face of a barely clothed crimson typhoon, his fate had been sealed the moment he didn't instantly comply. Probably even earlier.

Instincts and deeply ingrained muscle-memory acted quickly and the young male's no doubt convincing argument was shut down with the no less convincing force of a foot to the face.

" _RAUS! VERSCHWINDE, DU LÜSTLING!_ "

"S-Sorry! Sorry! It was a-"

Asuka felt her body lock up at the intruder's apology. Unbeknown to him, that word had just been the proverbial last straw.

And just like that, the half-naked mercenary saw red.

" _RAUS! RAUS!_ _ **RAUS**_ _!_ "

The redhead's irately repeated word was punctuated by further kicks to whichever part of the trespasser's body happened to make the better target, until the girl's forceful leading managed to drive the offender outside in a crawling and whimpering heap. The young woman closed the door once again as soon as she was able, and directed a few choice words towards the outside until she was able to make out the sounds of the pervert's terrified flight.

Asuka quickly grabbed some assorted objects from the room and threw them in front of the door, looking to make sure that no more curious onlookers would get to steal a peek at her. When she was satisfied with the blockade, she marched back to her garments and resumed her previous task of putting them on, only much faster than before.

She grit her teeth as she did, planning her future retribution as well as she was able.

The events had transpired too fast for Asuka to properly identify all of the intruder's features, but she was still confident about singling him out in a crowd. The fact that the pervert looked to be taller than the average Yamese man would no doubt make things easier for her on that front.

And there would be _hell_ to pay when she managed to find him.

 _ **"Asuka? What happened?!"**_

Maisie had no doubt felt the torrent of righteous anger currently oozing out of her friend. Or heard the commotion and cursing from mere moments ago. Or both.

"Nothing to worry your little head about, Maisie. Just a Yamese stooge that's asking for an execution," Asuka slipped into her armour and cracked her knuckles in time with her words. "And when I get my hands on him, I'm going to be more than happy to oblige."

-]LotF[-

She had just closed the bathhouse's door behind her when Asuka bumped into her third encounter of the night: a brown haired girl in pigtails dressed in one of those traditional dresses that were common in Yamato - a _kimono_ , if she recalled correctly.

Hers was a pale yellow with white embroidering depicting either a sunrise or a sunset, and quite pretty to look at, too. Asuka was no expert in anything relating to tailoring, and even less so in anything relating to _Yamese_ tailoring, but she could tell that whoever had put that dress together had been very skilful at their job.

The redhead could also tell by the garment's pristine condition that the freckled girl before her either valued it a lot, or gave a lot of importance to appearances. Or both.

Which would have gone a long way towards explaining the authoritative vibe that Asuka was getting from her.

Said vibe didn't keep freckle-girl from sporting the same damn shocked look that everyone in this place had been giving her all night long, though.

"...Wow," breathed out the girl. "It's just like she said."

To be fair, Asuka was very much aware of the fact that she turned heads wherever she went. She was beautiful and she knew it (especially when she was clean), and hadn't been above using that fact against the foolish whenever it suited her.

But these stares she was getting today weren't charged with the admiration that she was accustomed to, and as such, were getting _really old, really fast_.

"Who are you?"

Asuka realized that her words came out a little more forceful than politeness dictated. She also realized that the chain of most recent events had just managed to bring her past the 'give a damn' line.

And it seemed like forever ago that she was feeling in heaven without a worry in the world. Just her luck catching up to her, as usual.

"Oh!" The brunette noticed her staring and bowed deeply, in a very formal way. "E-Excuse me. I'm Hikari, of the Horaki family, and a retainer of Ikari-dono's. Captain Katsuragi asked me to act as your guide and temporary attendant for your meeting with him."

 _'Horaki?'_ Asuka raised an eyebrow in recognition. _'Wasn't that the name Misato mentioned? Interesting...'_

Considering that this Hikari girl had been the first person to actually apologize for looking at her like a three-headed monkey, Asuka decided to return the favour and try to let go of her current foul mood for as long as she was in her company; not an easy task to do considering that the redhead felt like repeatedly punching the nearest male fleshy thing in her path, but a task that she thought worth carrying out, should her previous assessment of the Horaki girl prove to be accurate.

Plus, Hikari had described herself as a retainer to the ruling Lord, so there was a possibility that the girl before her could be relatively high up in Akuro's pecking order.

Unlikely, but not impossible.

"Nice," the redhead answered, extending her hand forward. "I'm Asuka Sohryu, pleased to meet you."

The pigtailed girl looked at the offered hand in confusion for a moment, before a flash of recognition passed through her face and she returned the gesture with a warm smile.

"Likewise."

A youthful cry brought the gaze of the two new acquaintances to the paved path a few metres from the bathhouse, where two little girls were playing with some sticks.

Or rather, where one of them was chasing the other one with the aforementioned sticks while the latter begged for it to stop.

A deep and tired sigh from Hikari pushed the redhead to venture a guess.

"Are they with you?"

"Yes, I'm playing babysitter to them, as if I didn't have enough work already. The smaller one is Nozomi, my little sister, and the taller one is Sakura Suzuhara," at the mention of the surname, the pigtailed girl's face darkened considerably. "The sister of a friend with higher priorities than taking care of his family."

The surname already made the identity of said friend a given, but with everything that she knew and her unparalleled intellect, Asuka was confident that she would have been able to figure out who it was that Hikari was talking about anyway.

And this line of conversation provided a golden opportunity to score some points with her new friend, too.

"Would this friend happen to be about my height, muscular, and not very bright?"

Hikari turned to look at her with an amused smile.

"Couldn't have described him better if I tried. You've met him?"

"Yeah, I have. Made me feel right at home, that one."

"Ignore him. He'll apologize for whatever he did sooner or later, but don't go easy on him. That's the only way he'll learn." Hikari shook her head and pushed her previous smile back onto her face, before beckoning to the playing children. "Girls! Come say hello!"

 _'Yup. Looks mighty pissed to me, indeed. I wonder what meat-brain did?'_

Asuka didn't have much time to ponder that line of thought before the two little girls, who looked to be around seven or eight, obediently lined themselves before her.

Nozomi looked like a scaled down version of her older sister (down to the very freckles), with the notable exception of wearing her hair in a cute little top knot that bobbed everywhere with the movements of her head. Sakura, on the other hand, had a patch of short and dark brown hair and definitely looked way more boyish than the other girl did. From the way she carried herself to what looked to be her definition of 'fun', if the previous scene was anything to go by.

It was plain to see who she got that from.

The Suzuhara runt was looking at her curiously and somewhat warily, while Nozomi had an expression akin to that of a mouse staring at a big cat.

A cough from Hikari reminded the both of them about what they were supposed to do at this point, and both of the kids straightened up instantly in a panic. From there, they both offered the redhead a bow in perfect sync while chorusing ' _It's nice to meet you._ '

Asuka found it really hard not to smile a bit at the display, even if she wasn't a woman too fond of kids. The redhead returned the introduction and, with their duty done, Nozomi ran to hide behind her sister's back while Sakura returned to analysing the new arrival with a critical eye and very little shame.

"Forgive her," Hikari explained with a smile while ruffling her sister's hair. "She's always a bit shy around new people. Not that we get many of those lately."

Not that the redhead minded. Child aversion aside, even Asuka had to admit that Nozomi was acting sort of adorable.

"She looks weird."

The other one, though, she wouldn't mind hanging by her feet from the nearest tree.

"Sakura!"

"What? It's true!" Hikari's chiding tone didn't seem to affect the younger Suzuhara in the slightest. "And Toji says devils are always red. Hey, miss, are you a devil?"

Adding onto her tomboyish behaviour, Sakura Suzuhara also seemed to be either very brave, or very unobservant. Because an awful lot of people much older than she was would have taken off running for their lives at the look Asuka levelled her way.

A look that very much implied just how sorely tempted the redhead was to prove the runt's guess right. Luckily for Sakura's continued verticality, though, Hikari beat the young mercenary to the punch.

"Your brother is an _idiot_ and you shouldn't listen to him or his dumb ideas."

The young redhead raised a surprised eyebrow at the venomous undertone underlining Hikari's words. She already knew that the girl beside her was angry at the elder Suzuhara, but she was steadily becoming more curious as to the story behind that.

More ammo against meat-brain wouldn't end up going amiss, after all.

Nevertheless, she had to admit to being slightly impressed with Hikari, as well. Direct, to the point, and with very little patience for nonsense or disrespect.

Yup. Asuka liked this girl already; she had the feeling that the elder Horaki would have made for a fine drill sergeant back in the Imperial army.

"Th-That wasn't a very nice thing to say, Sakura-chan," chimed in Nozomi from her hidden position, causing her tomboyish friend to scratch the back of her head in reflection.

"Well... I guess both of you are right. Devils are silly and Big Bro is pretty dumb most of the time." Sakura sent a toothy smile that lacked quite a few actual teeth the redhead's way, and Asuka felt most of her irritation evaporate in a heartbeat. "Sorry, Sohryu-san!"

"That's better, Sakura-chan," applauded Hikari, moving behind the younger Suzuhara and playfully tickling her neck, which caused the young girl to squirm in delight. She then put her hands on the young girl's shoulders and guided her until she was looking in the direction of the castle's central plateau. "Tell you what: we are going to stop for a moment near the pond before we head on towards our meeting. Why don't you two go on ahead and wait for us there?"

The tomboy's eyes lit up like fireworks at the mention of the body of water and she enthusiastically threw her arms upwards, almost belting Hikari straight in the face in the process.

"Yeah, fishies! Nozomi, race you there!"

And then she was off like a rocket, laughing and giggling and positively bouncing off of every surface big enough to house her tiny feet.

And leaving her shocked friend behind with the scary, scary, stranger, of course.

"Wah?! _S-Sa-ku-ra!_ Wait for me!"

Nozomi showed signs of running before she caught herself and offered a pair of quick, polite, bows to the people she was leaving behind. By the time she resumed chasing her friend Sakura was little more than a pinprick in the distance; but the younger Horaki ran in pursuit as fast as she could, nonetheless.

"Well, someone's got energy to spare."

"You can say that again," Hikari concurred with an exhausted sigh. "Here's to hoping running that distance will tire Sakura out a little bit. She can be a real tremor, but she should hopefully be about ready to conk out."

"I guess the castle's foundations would like that, yeah." Asuka smiled both at Hikari and at her so far successful attempts at building a rapport with the girl. "In any case, your little sister's pretty cute. And that's not something you hear me say every day, mind you."

"That's because you haven't seen her at her worst. That girl's as deceptive as they get."

"I'll take your word for it. You seem to be pretty good with children."

The freckled girl shrugged in mock helplessness.

"Someone has to be." A quick frown flew past the girl's expression as she seemed to recall something. "Oh, right."

Hikari fiddled with the pocket in her left sleeve and produced a familiar accessory from it.

"Katsuragi-san found this among your belongings. She said that it fell off from one of the saddlebags when some helpers started moving your things to your quarters, and asked me to bring it back to you."

The young mercenary recoiled a bit in surprise at Horaki's words.

 _'I'm getting a room of my own? Wow. Generosity aside, Misato must be really confident about this Ikari guy liking me if she already started moving my stuff.'_

Hikari's voice broke Asuka out of her train of thought.

"Aren't you going to wear it?"

The redhead must have been speechless for a few more moments than she thought, for the elder Horaki was looking at her a bit curiously.

Deciding not to worry about topics that were out of her control for now, Asuka eyed the crimson gem in Hikari's palm for a moment and shrugged, before quickly putting the chain around her neck.

"Might as well. First impressions are important, and even if it's cheap it's still better than nothing."

And the inexpensive jewel didn't look all that bad, all things considered. The craftsmanship was very well done, even if the materials weren't first-class. And the core of the trinket was of _her_ colour, too.

If she didn't know any better, she'd have truly thought that Yuri had bought the thing just for her.

"If first impressions are truly as important as you think, I don't believe you have much to worry about." Hikari smiled warmly and allowed her eyes to roam over Asuka's face, putting special emphasis on her hair. "You are very pretty. I'm actually a bit envious."

Asuka couldn't help but smile widely at the praise.

She was _really_ liking this girl.

"I know," the redhead made sure to puff up her chest in time with her words. "Beauty is one of my many virtues, but definitely not the only one."

"So I heard. You seem to have impressed Katsuragi-san quite a bit." Without losing her smile, Hikari started walking in the direction the children had departed and motioned for Asuka to follow her. "But we should get going. Please follow me."

The elder Horaki led her through workshops closed for the day and farming fields that would receive no more attention until the next morning, all the way to one of the two gates that connected the area in between the two walls to the inner sanctum.

All throughout their short trip, Asuka had been surprised at the lack of people moving through the lower areas of the castle. Except for a handful of militiamen doing patrols, she had not seen a single soul moving about and, sure, it was starting to get late in the day, but it wasn't yet so far into the night that all the general populace should start to consider sleep.

Then again, it could have been a case of her Imperial customs clashing with a different way of doing things, once more. But Asuka heavily doubted that, since she had just witnessed what appeared to be a model of Yamese tradition and discipline sending a pair of children to play ahead without much of a worry, which told her that Sakura and Nozomi's bed time was still a ways off.

Where could all the people be, then?

Asuka didn't have to wait long to find the answer to that question.

"Woah...!"

And couldn't stop her jaw from hanging in fascination, at the same time.

The area before her was filled with all kinds of colourful gardens and ponds in a huge contrast to the incredibly bland lower part of the castle. A myriad of different flowers, decorated bushes and perfectly tended to trees, many of which Asuka had never before seen in her life, formed amazing patterns and pictures in many shades of red, blue and white. Fish of all sizes and colours swam along with various frogs inside of one big pond without a care in the world, occasionally jumping out of the water to catch an errant fly or impress their peers.

Small crowds of people congregated and relaxed at the sides of the path that encircled the keep, chatting next to finely detailed sculptures made of different kinds of stone or staring attentively at the fauna and flora that was on display.

But none of them came even close to the level of enthusiasm that Asuka Sohryu showed at this more than pleasant turn of events. Jumping from one area of interest to another and then to a third in a ball of excited wonder, the redhead tried to contrast what she was seeing with the information from all the books she had devoured back in Marburg's university, and came up empty-handed.

Which only made her smile wider.

With a small smile of her own, Hikari wordlessly guided the grinning young woman through the exhibits until they reached the big pool of water. Asuka errantly noted Sakura and Nozomi playing with the fish on the edge of the water, but the focus of her attention was on another short path, one that she didn't hesitate in following.

A small walkway made its way over the main pond and into an area with many wooden and glass cages filled with exotic birds and insects, mostly butterflies and moths that, once again, Asuka had never before seen in her life.

"This is... This is _amazing_!"

"I thought you would like it," Hikari commented merrily, looking inside a small cage containing tri-coloured butterflies. "I enjoy coming here to meditate a little while during the mornings, when it's quieter. I also try and help in maintaining the pond from time to time on top of my other duties."

"What are those birds?" questioned the excited girl, pointing at a flock of small, purple-backed avians. "I don't think I've ever seen them, not even in any books."

"I'm afraid I don't know their names, Sohryu-san," answered the freckled girl with an apologetic smile. "Although-"

Her explanation was cut off by a shake of the head from her partner.

"Asuka's fine."

"Huh?"

"Call me Asuka," said the girl amiably, elaborating. "My name's not _Sohryu-san_."

"Oh, of course," Hikari let out a small breath at knowing that she hadn't angered her charge in any way. "Asuka-san it is, then. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable."

Asuka had actually been hoping that her request would get her new friend to drop the honorifics altogether, but no such luck. Then again, the redhead figured that convincing Hikari to drop a habit she had been using all her life wouldn't be as easy as pulling a lever.

 _'Baby steps, Asuka. Baby steps.'_

"Don't worry about it. What were you saying before I cut you off, by the way?"

"That you should probably ask Ikari-dono if you're curious. He's surely more knowledgeable than I am about everything inside the inner walls. He's the one that pushed towards setting it all up, after all."

"Really? Maybe I'll do that."

Hikari nodded and excused herself to give the two runts playing with the water clear instructions _not_ to move from that spot until she returned from the meeting. The two children agreed without taking their attention of their games, and the elder Horaki left them to their devices for the most part.

...But not before wordlessly asking a nearby group of people to keep an eye on them. Apparently amused by the children's antics, they complied without complaint.

With the issue of the pond's continued safety taken care of, Hikari walked back to the redhead's side and beckoned for the girl to follow her.

"Let us go. We wouldn't want to make Ikari-dono wait."

Asuka nodded in agreement and the freckled girl started to lead the way.

Looking to burn the image of the exotic fauna and flora deep inside her mind for later analysis, the young mercenary turned one final time towards the exhibit, taking in all the colourful wonders with a dazzling smile on her face...

...When a sudden bright and white flash caught her attention, making the redhead blink in surprise.

Going from relaxed and elated to tense and alert in quite literally the blink of an eye, Asuka attentively scanned the area where she thought the light had originated. An effort that earned her very little in the way of new information, for the encroaching shadows and heavy vegetation of the treetops made it almost impossible to discern anything at all within them.

The fact that the abrupt glare had disappeared as quickly as it had come didn't help matters at all.

"Is something wrong?" asked her guide, noticing that the foreign girl wasn't coming with her.

And Asuka very much wanted to say 'yes' to that question. To say that for just a short moment, she had felt someone's (or something's) eyes on her.

It was an unnerving feeling, and one that her instincts told her to trust blindly. But try as she might, Asuka couldn't find anything out of place in the scenery before her; no rustle of leaves, no out of place sounds, no _nothing_.

"No, it's nothing." The young girl eyed the leaves and branches for a few moments longer, before turning to follow Hikari. "Must have been my imagination."

The redhead couldn't help but worry slightly about how much she was blaming said imagination lately, however. And the stars flying through her vision weren't exactly agreeing with said assessment, either.

In any case, Asuka decided that for the time being her worries were better focused in making sure she didn't end up making a false move during her upcoming big meeting. If whatever had caused that flash was hostile, it could have very well attacked her by now. Especially considering that she didn't have her weapons on her.

The young woman eyed the main tower of the castle before closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and holding it in for a few moments. She then allowed the confined air to escape through her lips as she took the first of many steps forward, a confident look on her face.

 _'Let's go, Asuka.'_

* * *

 **A/N: Hiya, it's me again. I'm here to let you know that any future long chapters will be probably split up as this one is, both to allow me to update more frequently, and to offer me a bigger buffer zone as I write the story. I'm afraid that I'm not the fastest of writers, which doesn't exactly mesh well with how wordy I tend to get, either.**

 **Should any of you be interested in checking out the (admittedly rougher) updates as they come out of the oven, you're welcome to join the discussion in the Sufficient Velocity forums, as previously mentioned; more criticism is always appreciated.**

 **See you guys next time, dear readers.**


	5. A Meeting of Fate - Part 2

The inside of Akuro keep wasn't exactly what Asuka had been envisioning.

Sure, it was fancy. There were ornate decorations on the lamps that illuminated the hallways, and paintings that no doubt would have looked beautiful to someone with Yamese taste, but there was a distinct lack of _luxury_ to it all. The kind of overdone and sheltered extravagance that always seemed to be descriptive of nobles.

The redhead reasoned that the lack of opulence in the Lord's residence could have had something to do with Yuri's description of Akuro as _'offering very little in the ways of anything'_ , but such a thing had never stopped many of her homeland's highborn from living the good life.

 _'At the expense of everyone else, of course.'_

A fact that, along with the existence and public availability of all the wonders outside, further confounded the foreign young woman. Was such a display common in this country? And if so, did the Yamese nobility value their subjects to a greater degree than their counterparts in the Empire did?

Yamese nobility and their way of doing things was one of the topics that Mr. Kaji had never been enthused to talk about for some reason, so Asuka highly doubted that the latter possibility was the case. Plus, knowing how proud of its military tradition Yamato was also didn't lend a lot of credence to the former.

You didn't raise skilled and strong soldiers by teaching them about art, after all. Many would go so far as to claim that warriors didn't read books in the first place, but Asuka was the living embodiment of the fault in that notion.

Which only left the option of everything she had seen in Akuro so far being intrinsically exclusive to Akuro itself. The question as to _why_ was another matter entirely.

A matter that Asuka wouldn't have been unwilling to discuss with Hikari while they walked, but the other girl seemed to be more interested in telling about all the dos and don'ts that she was supposed to keep in mind during the meeting ahead. The redhead listened to Horaki's speech with half an ear and offered non-committal answers from time to time, but she had plans of her own on that front as far as she was concerned.

Namely, being respectful enough to avoid trouble while saving herself the humiliation of kissing the ground for anyone. Lest of all a stinking noble.

"Here we are," Hikari's voice broke the redhead from her thoughts, and Asuka raised her head from its thinking position to find herself in front of a slightly more embellished sliding door with two armed men before it. "Remember to do as I said when we are inside, and we'll be finished in a minute."

The freckled girl offered an encouraging smile and exchanged a few words with the guards. The two men nodded and parted to allow passage, with Hikari wasting no time in opening the door, announcing her presence and walking inside. The brunette then proceeded to a central point in the room and knelt down on the floor, hands on her lap.

Asuka followed behind, head held high and trying to make herself as imposing as possible.

An attitude that lasted about as long as it took the redhead to notice that the only person within the room at the time was Katsuragi, standing next to an empty cushion on the ground. And she looked sort of amused, to boot.

"That wasn't half bad for an entrance, kiddo."

"I wasn't looking for an opinion," rebuked Asuka, before allowing her eyes to roam through the elegantly decorated room. "Where is this Ikari-dono of yours?"

"No idea," the Captain shrugged in response. "Last I heard he had left the archery range and was on his way here, so something must have come up in between. In any case, I'm sure he won't make you wait for long, Sohryu-san."

"And what makes you so sure? We could be standing here all night for all we know!"

"He might not be terribly fond of them," Misato assuaged the girl's fears with a knowing smile. "But Shin-chan's not one to skip appointments. Especially not interesting ones."

Asuka was admittedly curious about just how long Akuro had spent without receiving any outside visits for her arrival to be so interesting, but another part of the Captain's explanation caught the front line of her attention, instead.

"Shin-chan?" The redhead's eyebrows rose high at the pet name. "Is that-?"

"That would be my brother's name, yes."

A third voice cut into the conversation and a stoic-looking young woman entered the room from a second door closer to Misato's position. The newcomer seemed to be close to Asuka's age group, and wore a white kimono with embroidered flowers that was no doubt much more expensive than Hikari's.

But age and attire were not the details that captured most of the redhead's attention: that honour certainly went to the blue hue of the girl's hair, the paleness of her skin and, more importantly, her unsettling red eyes.

 _'...An albino. Never heard of them having blue hair, though.'_

Or of blue even being a possible hair colour for a person. Albinism aside, that impossible trait alone was enough to creep Asuka out.

"Oh, hello Rei-chan!"

But apparently not enough to do the same for the good Captain, if her casual greeting was any indication; then again, chances were the two of them went back a long way.

Nevertheless, the nonchalant salute seemed to take the bluenette by surprise. It was hard to tell from the redhead's position at the side of things, but she could have sworn that this _Rei-chan's_ eyebrows and eyelids had come together almost imperceptibly.

"I would ask you to refrain from breaking formalities while in front of our newfound guest, Captain."

The reprimanding tone of her words further proved Asuka's hypothesis.

"But of course, my Lady," Misato agreed with an unrepentant smile and a bow. "My apologies."

"Thank you, Captain."

Holding the same expression as before, that of a blank slate, the young woman turned to face Asuka. The redhead quickly went back to her previous, imposing façade.

"I am Rei Ikari," she began, looking Asuka straight in the eye unflinchingly. "Twin sister to the reigning regent of Akuro, Shinji Ikari. I bid you a warm welcome in his stead."

"Why?" questioned Katsuragi, her previous attempt at jest forgotten in the blink of an eye. "Did something happen to him?"

"My brother suffered a small accident on his way here, but it is nothing severe. Certainly nothing requiring your attention, Captain." Rei responded with a demure shake of her head before turning her attention back to Asuka. "He is currently resting. Your name, if you may?"

A very polite question that served as a front for some very impolite measuring. The redhead didn't particularly like the scrutinizing eyeful she was receiving, but Ikari's was a natural reaction. She would have considered her plain naïve had she done otherwise.

"Asuka. Asuka Sohryu," she answered with a courteous nod. "More widely known as Asuka the Red. It's nice to meet you."

A long silence followed, for everyone in the room knew that which had to happen, but the only redhead present had no intention of doing as was expected of her. Asuka could barely make out Hikari's whispers of _'Get down on your knees and bow! You have to bow, Asuka-san!'_ from her kneeling position beside her, but she had no intention of following her example.

Hopefully Hikari wouldn't be too cross with her for that, later.

Eventually, the wait and the poignant silence became long enough for the bluenette to deem it intentional.

"I gather that you are a foreigner, Sohryu-san," Rei reproached coolly, but somewhat amiably. "Know that there are a number of customs to follow in this land, did Horaki-san fail to tell you about them?"

"Nah, none of that," Asuka corrected steadily, making sure to watch her tone in a distinct contrast to her usual behaviour. "Hikari did a great job of explaining, I'm just choosing not to demean myself. Know that I respect you and that I'm very grateful for your hospitality. Is that not enough?"

Misato eyed her curiously by Rei's side. The albino's expression marginally compressed once again.

"Of course not," The Lady's response was as swift as it was absolute. "Tradition is meant to be upheld."

 _'So this one's the usual kind of arrogant and stuck-up noble,'_ Asuka felt her features crease slightly in disgust. _'Wonderful.'_

"Well, it was unlikely to work, but still worth a try, at least," the redhead commented with a sigh, eliciting a raised eyebrow from almost everyone in the room. She then raised her head and met Rei's eyes once more. "Sorry, Ikari-san, but I've never bowed down to anyone in my life, and I don't have any intention of breaking that trend today. I was being completely honest before, but if you honestly feel that my show of respect wasn't enough for your so-called traditions, I'll be happy to be on my way."

Ikari's expression softened back to its previous, stoic, look, but the power of her gaze didn't relent in the slightest. Still, the proud foreigner surmised that she had probably impressed the bluenette somewhat.

Not that it seemed to help matters much, anyway.

"...Is that so? You have an interesting way of showing _respect_ , Sohryu-san," Asuka bristled slightly at the comment but Rei continued before she could get a word in. "In any case, you do realize that the only way out of Akuro is via the road you traversed, don't you?"

"Of course I do." The young mercenary scoffed.

"And you would be willing to brave the dangers within. In the name of what? Pride?"

"Yeah, pretty much," the redhead shrugged in agreement before returning to the staring match. "So? What's it going to be?"

A competition that Rei Ikari didn't appear to be keen on losing. Quite the opposite.

Two women watched in varying degrees of fascination, as the remaining pair in the room steadily increased the tension until it could have been cut with a knife. The atmosphere within the walls became so heated, in fact, that had there been something flammable in between the two of them, it would probably have caught on fire.

However, the tense and titanic battle of wills was jarringly broken by an amused chuckle.

"...Wow. Chalk _two_ points for insane."

Blinking back into action first, Rei pointedly looked at the older woman at her side.

"...Katsuragi-san? This is no time for jokes."

To which said woman replied with a good-natured roll of her eyes.

"Come on, Rei-chan, drop off the mean-girl act. It might be entirely justified, but you and me both know that throwing this stubborn mule of a woman into certain death isn't in the cards."

"Who are you calling a stubborn mule?!" / "That's beside the point!"

The speed and vehemence in which both arguing women changed targets almost made Misato step back, but she managed to reign in the impulse at the last moment.

"Woah! Easy there, you two; don't bite the mediator," Katsuragi continued with a placating smile. "Look, I don't know about the both of you, but I'm starving. This was meant to be a quick 'Hello and thank you', after all... Before Sohryu-san here decided to turn it into an ego contest for whatever reason, anyway."

"I didn't-!"

"Yes, you did," Misato cut the girl off bitingly, fixing her with a sharp stare. "I trust that you have your reasons for acting like you did, but let me tell you that it was a very silly thing to do, Sohryu-san. I think that you'll find most of those present in agreement of that point."

An affirmative murmur followed the woman's statement, and Asuka Sohryu found herself uncharacteristically speechless for a second. She rallied quickly, though, making to retort back and unwilling to give any verbal territory...

But a sharp shake of the Captain's head stopped any retort she might have had a second time. Shortly after, a disappointed whisper of _'Let it go; please,'_ from the kneeling girl by her side finally convinced Asuka against speaking up.

The scowl on the redhead's face left no doubts about her true feelings on the matter, though.

"In any case, my Lady," continued Misato in a warmer tone when the consensus of the room had been made apparent. "I'm sure that her unnecessary actions notwithstanding, Sohryu-san was being sincere in her thanks before, just as she said. Her way of conveying those may have been brash, but I don't believe she was looking to be outright hostile. As such, may I propose that we move on from this less than desirable situation with a warning towards our guest?"

Ikari gave the older woman a deadpan look (or what seemed to pass as deadpan for her), clearly unimpressed by her words. The bluenette then crossed her arms below her chest and turned to properly address her.

"I take it you have something in mind in regards to said guest, Captain?"

"You could say so," the mauve-haired woman admitted, not even trying to hide her ulterior motives. "I believe she could prove to be useful, but I'll have to check whether Sohryu-san here will be up to the task first, of course. I'm afraid such a test will be difficult to undertake without our _great_ heroine's continued stay, though."

Acknowledging Katsuragi's explanation with a nod and affording just the shortest of instants to look at the redhead out of the corner of her vision, Rei exhaled daintily through her nose and closed her eyes in reflection.

Misato smiled knowingly as she waited patiently for her liege's verdict and what she expected would come out of it.

Hikari remained in place with a neutral look to her, wondering if any part of the ongoing mess was actually her fault.

Meanwhile, Asuka fumed silently at being constantly referred to in the third person.

Eventually, the young Lady opened her eyes once more.

"You raise a valid point, Katsuragi-san. I'm well aware that we could use all the help we can get." The bluenette markedly shook her head before continuing. "But I'm afraid I cannot ignore Sohryu-san's recent actions as easily as you do, Captain. I do not care for her hopefully involuntary slight against me, but I very much fear she will end up repeating her mistakes unless measures are taken to prevent it."

"Fair enough." The older woman smiled foxily. "You know, for some strange reason, I had the feeling this would all end up tying up to Shinji-kun, somehow."

Asuka noticed the nigh-unflappable young woman almost imperceptibly tense up at Misato's jab.

"I do not believe supporting my brother however I can is something I should be ashamed of, Captain."

"Of course not, my Lady," continued Misato teasingly. "I mean, it was cuter when you were five, but I certainly won't stand in the way of your current efforts."

"That is quite _enough_ , Katsuragi."

Rei's voice had a definite edge of finality to it that somewhat clashed with the slight amount of pink colouring her cheeks.

It was enough for Misato to feel satisfied, though.

"As you wish!" the Captain agreed, going back to a more serious disposition. For the most part. "Tell you what, Rei-chan: on your behalf, I'll make sure to find some practical way of punishing the uncouth actions of our dear guest first thing tomorrow. Deal?"

Rei quickly latched onto the chance at regaining her previous composure. She still looked a fair bit skeptical, however.

"I trust that you will be objective, Captain?"

Misato eyed the redhead from the corner of her eye and her smile took on an evil turn.

"Of course, my Lady. I'll make sure to be _very_ objective."

Suddenly feeling a cold shiver run through her spine, Asuka couldn't help but wonder if it was already too late to swallow her pride and do as she had previously been told. Unfortunately for her, a small smile blossomed on Ikari's face at the confirmation.

It seemed that the bell of her fate had tolled, indeed.

"Fine, I suppose that is an acceptable compromise." The bluenette then turned to address the annoyed-looking redhead with a severe look. "However, I _will_ ask that you show my brother the respect he deserves, as custom dictates. Know that this is _not_ negotiable."

"Isn't that up for me to decide, Rei?"

Another voice rang from the hallway Rei had previously entered from, and two pairs of eyes widened in surprise.

 _'I know that voice!'_

"Shinji!" The young Lady anxiously turned to address the still not visible newcomer. "You shouldn't be up!"

"Rei... I told you, it's nothing! I get worse bruises every time I spar with Toji, this won't kill me. And it's not like I can rest with all of that-"

As he spoke, a raven-haired young man entered into the elegant room sporting a small smile. He turned to greet the main reason of the meeting, but both his expression and the rest of his body froze in place the very moment their eyes met.

" _ **YOU/YOU!**_ "

The two bewildered shouts that followed caught most everyone present off-guard. Both exclamations had denoted a similar shock, but one of the cries had been markedly higher-pitched than the other.

The one that had come from the corner where Asuka looked about ready to murder someone, to be precise.

Misato turned her gaze towards the newcomer, and found the ruling regent of Akuro trying to make his best impersonation of a wall painting, his stunned eyes never leaving the imposing and blazing inferno that was building up at the other end of the room.

The Captain also didn't fail to notice what looked like a fairly nasty hit on the left side of the black-haired boy's face, the kind of hit that would most likely leave a bruise, and one that definitely hadn't been there the last time she had seen him.

She blinked in confusion at the strange scene.

"I get the feeling that I'm missing something, here."

The redhead didn't waste any time in elaborating, while pointing at the cowering party with an accusing finger.

"Th-This pervert peeped on me while I was changing!"

The older woman blinked for a second time, her puzzlement growing ever larger, before furrowing her brow slightly.

"That _pervert_ is the ruling regent of Akuro, kiddo."

"Do I look like I give a damn?! He could be the freaking _Pope_ for all I care!" Asuka changed targets and turned to address Shinji. "Get out of here, you bastard! Before I cave your face in!"

And the girl looked like she meant every single one of her words, too. Her enraged expression and the way she was slashing her arms around were enough to unnerve Hikari, and she wasn't even the target of her enmity.

But it was such a grandiose show, so explosive and excessive, that Misato couldn't help but feel that something was... off.

"How dare you?!" Rei exploded in a very uncharacteristic display of anger. "There's simply no way Shinji would debase himself in such a manner!"

"So I'm a liar now?! Why don't you ask him, then?! Let's see if he's a dishonest slimeball too! Wouldn't surprise me, with you goddamn Highborn always thinking you can do and take whatever you want!"

Taking that final exclamation as a personal affront against her brother (and with good reason, too), it didn't take long for Rei to respond to the accusation as vehemently as it had been made, opening the door for further escalation between the two young women.

A show that was leaving Misato Katsuragi honestly baffled, as it wasn't everyday that she witnessed her young liege losing her temper in such a manner.

...Or _ever_ , for that matter.

In any case, with both parties locked into an argument that didn't show any signs of abating by itself, Misato was starting to fear that Rei would end up calling in the guards waiting outside. Or something worse, judging by her hostile expression and clenched fists.

She didn't like the familiar build-up that her body was feeling in the environment, either. A quick look at Shinji told her that said feeling hadn't been lost on the young man, as well, if the pleading look he was sending towards his sister's back was any indication.

That clinched it. Time to act before they were forced to pick up little Asuka pieces off the ground.

"My lady, if you would allow me," started Misato, slowly and peacefully making her way in between the clashing forces. "Why don't we all calm down a little?"

Rei sent the Captain a slightly incensed look before she caught herself. The bluenette then visibly relaxed her posture, with a look on her face that was somewhere in between surprise and shame.

Which was more than could have been said for her red haired opponent.

"I'm calm!" she almost shrieked. "I'm _perfectly_ calm!"

There it was again, the undertone behind the girl's words that was bothering Misato to no end. It sounded to Misato like Asuka was trying to convince herself, more than anyone else.

And then it clicked: the difference between the Asuka that was screaming her lungs out now, and the one that had been standing in her place not five minutes ago.

The redhead that was currently staring at her was showing none of the confidence and demeanour that she had previously shown. Every single muscle in Asuka's body was tense, sure, but the feeling Misato was getting was that of a cornered animal, and not of a predator; her blue eyes were narrowed in an intimidating gesture, but they would involuntarily dart in the direction of the door every few seconds.

Those and a few other unconscious signs told Katsuragi one thing: Asuka was doing a good job of hiding it behind a furious front, but the truth behind her actions was that she was _scared._

...

No, scratch that. The girl was inwardly _terrified_.

Terrified of Shinji, bafflingly enough. But that one was a question that could wait.

"No, you're not," Misato responded soothingly. "Why don't you take a few deep breaths before we continue, Asuka?"

The redhead looked at Misato weirdly for a moment before she made to protest, but the older woman beat her to the punch by offering a small bow.

"Please," the Captain continued in the same tone as before. "The security of everyone in Akuro is part of my job, Asuka. That responsibility also includes any incidents such as this, and I want to get to the bottom of this one for your sake as much as Shinji's. That's no innocent accusation that you are making, after all, and it's in everyone's best interests to clear it up as soon as possible."

Asuka opened and closed her mouth several times, no doubt thinking of several different ways of objecting, but finding none that would actually work. Eventually, the redhead shook her head and relented, opting instead for doing as she had been advised.

A deep breath was followed by a second one, and then a third. This series repeated itself for a few moments until the girl deemed it sufficient.

"Okay," Asuka eventually breathed out. "I'm fine now."

And the girl did indeed seem more at ease with herself now. Unfortunately, she was still giving Shinji the evil eye and showing obvious signs of caution towards him, but it would have to do for now.

"Thank you, kiddo," Misato smiled before seamlessly slipping back into her commanding persona. "Now then, can you give us your take on everything about this incident, please?"

The redhead shrugged in response.

"Sure. There isn't much to say, though. I had just finished taking my bath and started to dress when...," Asuka stopped for a moment, her mind no doubt running through many colourful adjectives with which to describe the cowering Lordling, " _he_ appeared from out of nowhere and started looking at me like a monkey in heat. I made sure he left as fast as he arrived, of course."

"By hitting him, I presume?"

Asuka's eyes narrowed slightly at the accusation.

"When he didn't get the hint after I screamed my lungs out at him, sure. I bet I'm not the only woman in this place that would have reacted like I did."

Two of the three females present used the invitation to imagine themselves in Asuka's shoes for a few seconds, and came to the same conclusion soon after.

"Maybe not exactly like that, but you have a point, there," agreed the Captain. "What happened after that?"

"I vowed to bring swift retribution to the peeping pervert and finished dressing. I then met with Hikari outside the baths and we pretty much came straight here. The end."

Asuka crossed her arms in front of her and held her head high just as she finished her testimony. She then met the eyes of everyone present one by one, as if daring anyone in the room to call her a liar.

No one did, because it truly didn't sound like the redhead was lying.

Misato nodded her head and thanked the young girl, before turning her back on her and facing Shinji. She was just about to ask the other involved party when Rei posed a question of her own.

"What were you even doing in the bathhouse?"

Level-headed and succinct, and in the cool and familiar tone that Misato was accustomed to hearing. It sounded like the young Lady was mostly back to her usual self.

And, all things considered, the Captain couldn't help but marvel at how quickly Rei had calmed down after her previous, almost violent, reaction.

...Even if Misato had never thought the day would come where she would have to put ' _violent reaction_ ' and ' _Rei_ ' in the same sentence.

"Bathing," Asuka replied, as outwardly calm as the bluenette. "Didn't you catch that?"

"That is not what I mean," Rei elaborated with a shake of her head. "The bathhouse was reserved for male use this afternoon, as is customary due to the necessity to share the building. Everyone in Akuro knows that."

That gave the redhead pause for a moment, as she carefully digested the young Lady's words and looked for any signs of foul play.

"The hell are you talking about?" she questioned, after finding no evidence to the latter. "I was _told_ to go take a bath before this stupid meeting I didn't even ask for!"

"Who told you that?"

"She did, of course!" the redhead responded, indicating Katsuragi with her head. "Who else could it be?"

An uncomfortable silence followed Asuka's statement, and Misato Katsuragi suddenly found herself on the receiving end of four pairs of eyes.

"...Captain?" Rei eventually spoke, in a voice that could have frozen water. "I certainly hope, for your sake, that this wasn't one of your infamous and elaborate jokes."

"Uh... Whoops?"

The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees further.

"I'm afraid that _'Whoops'_ does _not_ serve as an explanation, Captain."

"Sorry, my Lady, it was an honest mistake," hastily explained Misato, with an apologetic bow. "I must have messed up the day of the week with everything that's been going on."

"Somehow, I have a hard time believing that, Katsuragi-san."

"...Okay, fine," the mauve-haired woman caved in with a childish pout after unsuccessfully trying to hold Rei's piercing stare. "I will admit that the possibility for something similar somewhere down the line _did_ cross my mind, but I'm not so naughty to pull this off on someone I just met. You know that, Rei-chan."

Satisfied, even if still a bit skeptical, the young Lady nodded her agreement.

"Very well, I shall take your word for it, Captain," the bluenette turned towards the foreigner in the room before continuing. "I think it is safe to assume that my brother intended to use the baths in preparation for this meeting, Sohryu-san, just as you did. In light of this clear misconception, I expect you to apologize for your previous rudeness."

"...A mistake?" Asuka's expression relaxed in what looked like relief for a fleeting moment, but that reprieve disappeared as quickly as it came. "Like hell it was! Him staring lustfully at me instead of going away was no damn mistake! Who knows what depraved thoughts were going through his head!"

Rei's gaze turned icy once again, and her opponent responded in kind.

"Clearly this _lust_ you saw in my brother is nothing but another fabrication from your over-active imagination, Sohryu-san. Retract those words at once."

Rolling her eyes in exasperation at what she saw as the build-up to a second confrontation, Misato made to step in and act as peace-maker once more. But then, her efforts where made void by the most unlikely of sources.

"A-Actually, I did. N-Not intentionally, but still..." Shinji could feel the redhead's heated gaze instantly switch targets and try to bore a hole through him, but he forced himself to weather the storm and not back down. "C-Can you let me speak to Sohryu-san, Rei?"

"...Shinji?"

"I-I know you are just looking out for me, but I think it's better for me to take care of this misunderstanding myself."

The young Lady considered her sibling's words, visibly hesitant. She very much realized the merit to what Shinji was saying, of course, but the bluenette would have been lying if she said she was fine with letting the redhead anywhere near Shinji after her recent actions.

It didn't look like her brother would be deterred, though, and Rei didn't want to overstep her bounds, either. Therefore, she nodded and offered a quick bow, before stepping to the side of the room and allowing Shinji free pass.

"As you wish, brother."

Shinji sent the bluenette a small smile and moved forward to properly meet his guest. He never made it past his sister's previous position, though.

"Don't come any closer," Asuka bit out somewhat harshly, with a guarded expression. "Whatever you want to say, you can say from there."

"O-Okay."

While the young man worked to reclaim his mental balance, Asuka took the opportunity to take a good look at her host. A look that earned the black-haired boy a swift verdict from the redhead:

Shinji Ikari, ruling regent of Akuro, didn't look like much.

The man was tall by Yamese standards (Asuka guessed that he was half a head taller than she was, at least), but whatever positive effect that trait might have garnered him was lost by his near-constant slouching. The young man seemed to barely be able to fill the expensive-looking clothes he was wearing, obvious hand-me-downs from someone with broader shoulders than he possessed, and he looked to have barely started going through the changes of manhood, if his boyish countenance was any indication.

Hell, she heavily doubted Ikari had even begun to shave.

He was also sweating buckets, to boot, and he had spoken naught but a single word in her direction.

 _'Tch. The Lord of the castle sure is as unimpressive as his holding._ This _is the great Ikari-dono everyone has been making a huge deal about, a clumsy and stammering_ boy _?'_ Asuka's eyes momentarily flicked towards Rei. _'At least Blue over there has some presence to her. This is just plain sad.'_

An awkward silence followed her thought, much to Asuka's chagrin. Ikari just stood there, squirming in place and constantly clenching and unclenching his right hand in clear nervousness. He would open his mouth to say something, think better of it, and close it once again.

The scene repeated itself a few times, with the redhead's patience wearing thinner and thinner by the second. To the point where the only thing stopping her from yelling at the excuse of a man before her was the ever vigilant gaze of the bluenette behind him.

The boy then suddenly closed his eyes and started muttering something she couldn't quite make out under his breath, further annoying the young woman.

Asuka was about to throw all caution to the wind and snap verbally at the fidgeting boy when he abruptly stopped in his whispering, a scant few seconds after having started. Ikari also stopped in his constant and annoying squirming at the same time, sighing in relief as if he had managed an exhausting feat of some sort and earning himself a confused stare from the girl in front of him.

It was then that the redhead felt a wave of _something_ wash over her, covering her from head to toe in a hard to describe feeling that travelled both over her skin and beneath it. A weird kind of itch that was gone just as quickly as it had come, but that left a sort of... _relaxing_ wake within her?

It was making Asuka feel very light-headed, that was for sure.

To the point where the redhead almost missed the moment Shinji started to talk.

"I'm very sorry, Sohryu-san," Ikari stated in an even tone, while bowing down in apology. "Not for coming to your aid after I heard you scream, but for... everything that happened after that. It was very unbecoming of me, but I hope that you'll forgive me in time."

Asuka blinked once. Twice. Thrice.

Not only at the fact that the lord of Akuro was bowing down to _her_ (much to the notable displeasure of a blue-haired maiden), but also at the way in which he had spoken: not a single squeak or stammer, nor a word out of place.

It was as if he had been replaced with a different person entirely, or something. And his serene demeanour and aura of confidence when he raised his eyes back up did nothing but strengthen that notion.

To say that Asuka Sohryu was flabbergasted at the time would have been the understatement of the century. The wooziness affecting her didn't help matters, either.

 _'W-What the hell just happened?!'_

"Are you all right, Sohryu-san?" he asked worriedly, calmly looking her straight in the eye. "You look somewhat shaky."

Shinji Ikari also had very pretty blue eyes, noted an errant part of Asuka's brain.

"Y-Yeah..." the redhead eventually managed, pushing through the haze covering her mind. "S-Sure. Just tired, is all."

Asuka couldn't tell if her blatant lie had worked on everyone else present (she would bet on _'no'_ ), but it seemed to be enough for Shinji.

"Then we should cut this meeting short and allow you to rest," the raven-haired boy stated with a small smile, further perplexing the redhead. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet! I'm Shinji Ikari, ruling regent of Akuro. It's nice to meet you, Sohryu-san. I'm sorry that your first day ended so terribly, but I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of your stay in our realm. Know that you can come straight to us for anything you need."

"Th-Thanks..."

Speaking in monosyllables frustrated Asuka to no end, but the fog clouding her mind at the moment didn't leave her much of a choice. She really didn't trust her mouth right now and, loathe as she was to do it, conceding the initiative in the conversation was probably in her best interest.

Thankfully, Rei Ikari helpfully decided to further assist her on that front.

"I do not believe you should be this lax, Shinji," she counselled in a concerned voice. "Such a course of action could prove undermining later on."

"This whole thing was as much my fault as it was Sohryu-san's, Rei. So let's just leave it at that and forget about it, okay?"

It was clear that Rei didn't agree with Shinji's assessment in the slightest, but she relented, anyway.

"...As you wish, brother."

His will enforced, Shinji turned to address the older woman at his other side.

"Is Sensei's old room ready for Sohryu-san to use?"

"Yes, Shinji-kun," Katsuragi quickly confirmed. "I asked for her things to be delivered there myself. Any necessary arrangements should have been taken care of, as well."

"Good. Thank you, Misato-san." Finally, Ikari turned his gaze towards the brunette still kneeling on the floor. "Horaki-san, can you please accompany our guest to her room and bring her something for dinner, afterwards? I think it will be better for everyone to go to sleep early tonight."

"As you wish, Ikari-dono." Hikari bowed respectfully before standing up and heading towards the door, not sparing even a glance in the redhead's direction. "Follow me, Sohryu-san. I will show you to your quarters."

Cringing a bit at the lack of friendliness in the freckled girl's voice but not wanting to stay any longer than necessary in the damnable meeting room, Asuka was quick to follow.

-]LotF[-

Asuka had been pleasantly surprised to find a western style room as her assigned quarters.

It was a fairly spacious room, and pretty neatly decorated at that. Nothing overtly expensive, of course, just some paper scrolls with some text or pictures of some kind, but there had been some effort put into that aspect at the very least.

A wooden bed and a desk were placed at the far end wall, with the latter having an inkpot on top and more than enough space to be considered a decent workplace. More importantly, there was a sizable bookcase-like piece of furniture filled to the brim with tomes and manuscripts of all sorts, much to the redhead's elation.

Clearly this had been the room of some kind of scholar, which matched the title of ' _Sensei_ ' that Ikari had used before. Maybe the accommodations of some Yamese citizen that had studied the western customs and decided to adopt them for themselves? It wouldn't really surprise her, considering that Asuka would have jumped at the chance for a comfy bed after a lifetime of sleeping on the freaking floor.

Seriously. The traditions of this piece of rock could be so stupid, sometimes.

In any case, Asuka had been certainly curious about the story behind the room, but also decided in no uncertain terms that questioning that could wait until tomorrow.

It's not like Hikari had looked overjoyed with her at the time, after all. She had been eerily quiet and strictly professional both while leading her to her quarters, and while fetching her some dinner, before slipping out for her own room with barely a ' _Good night_ '.

The reason behind the brunette's anger where painfully obvious. And it also made her feel a bit sad, to be completely honest.

Not that Asuka regretted her recent actions during the meeting or anything like that, far from it. If given the chance, she would have pretty much done the same thing once again, which meant that apologizing for her supposedly disrespectful behaviour wasn't in the books, either.

That didn't mean that she wouldn't be looking into regaining Horaki's favour somehow, though. Personal wishes aside, Asuka was still fairly confident that the girl could prove relatively influential within Akuro, and it was always nice to keep those kind of folks on your side.

But figuring out a way to handle that, like the backlog of questions she had yet to receive an answer to, could also wait until tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow-and-a-half, even.

 _'Because I'm going to be reading the hell out of_ those _first thing in the morning!'_

Asuka threw one last, longing look to her room's collection of knowledge before smiling and slipping out of her garments. She then stored the light armour and assorted pieces of clothing, putting them inside of a separate space in the room divided with a sliding door that seemed to serve the function of a wardrobe.

Making sure to put the small tray that had carried her dinner aside in one corner of the room, the redhead blew on the small lanterns set up around the chamber until there was no more fire to illuminate the area, before throwing herself onto the bed afterwards in a very unladylike manner.

A deep sigh escaped her the very moment her tired body was allowed to relax in the comfort of the bed sheets. Asuka then closed her eyes and reached out towards her oldest friend, in what had become a regular night-time habit over the years.

"...What a day," the redhead whispered to herself. "Ships, scary innkeepers, wolves and bitchy aristocrats. Although I'll take bitchy nobles over perverted and spineless wimps."

 _ **"...That's mean, Asuka,"**_ Maisie quickly chided in her usual fashion. _ **"I like him, he sounded nice."**_

"You like _everyone_ , Maisie. That's hardly a valid metric," Asuka responded with an implied roll of her eyes and a scoff. "I bet that you also thought Blue was the loveliest girl ever, didn't you?"

The redhead's sarcastic remark was met with no response, however.

"Maisie?"

 _ **"No... I don't like her."**_

"...What? Why?"

 _ **"I don't know why..."**_ elaborated the child, with the barest hint of animosity in her voice. _ **"I just don't."**_

Animosity that left Asuka completely stumped for a few seconds. She hadn't been kidding about Maisie's naïvely optimistic outlook on people, after all.

Maybe this was a sign of her friend growing up a little bit, or something?

"...Huh," the young woman eventually muttered, deciding to shelf that thought along with everything else in the backlog. Not that disliking Blue was anything special, anyway. "In any case, would you look at that. Not only has Blue managed to be a major pain in the ass, she's also managed to singlehandedly stop the Maisie like-wagon! That deserves a round of applause, or something!"

 _ **"That's not true!"**_ came the cutely indignant response. _ **"There's plenty of people that I don't like!"**_

"Oh, yeah?" Asuka mocked, fanning her friend's flames of annoyance. "Like who?"

 _ **"Like... L-Like..."**_ Maisie struggled for a few moments to think of an example, to the point where she could start feeling the beginnings of a smug smile on Asuka's face. She was about to give up and concede the point, when a memory surfaced and she latched on to it without thinking. _ **"Like that awful man that used to scream at you a lot! I don't like him, he hurt you and made you sad!"**_

The young girl felt a sudden and dark twist go through her connection to Asuka and gasped, going very quiet. It wouldn't have been hard to picture her putting her hands over her mouth, if only she had any to speak of.

"Maisie..." Asuka eventually growled, eyes suddenly wide open and hands balled into tight fists.

 _ **"S-Sorry! Sorry, Asuka!"**_ she strongly apologized, having been too late in realizing her mistake. _ **"It slipped!"**_

Maisie's words were accompanied by a strong feeling of devotion and love aimed straight at the redhead, in a clear attempt to be comforting. It was far from being as effective as actual physical contact would have been, but it was the closest her oldest friend could get to an actual hug.

The veritable shower of fuzzy feelings did help at calming Asuka down, nonetheless.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," the young woman ultimately reassured, after following Misato's counsel once more and taking a few deep breaths. "Water under the bridge. I guess I sort of goaded you into that direction anyway."

 _ **"...Maybe so. B-But still..."**_

"I said it's fine, forget about it," Asuka cut off unrelentingly, before continuing in a tone full of certainty. "But mark my words, Maisie. That spineless idiot that you think is so _nice_ is bound to be as _awful_ as that bastard was. Hell, he even showed the first signs of it today."

Both in the bathhouse and during the end part of the meeting. Because the redhead wasn't sold on the whole _'innocent accident'_ explanation for the former, nor intent on blaming the latter on yet another trick of her mind.

It was clear as day that Shinji Ikari, for all of his mediocrity, was all kinds of shady. People didn't just make sudden personality shifts like that, after all, and Asuka was almost sure that the bastard had tried to affect _her_ as well, somehow.

 _ **"...You think so?"**_

"I don't _think so_ , I'm sure of it!" the young woman boldly declared, looking to dispel the disbelieving tone in Maisie's voice. "But trust me, Maisie, we'll be ready for him when he tries. We're heroines now, and taking out the evil-doers is _exactly_ what heroines are meant to do."

" _ **O-Okay. If you say so, Asuka..."**_

Maisie's agreement came with some reluctance, and the redhead made to further press her claims. But then, a tired yawn escaped her, and Asuka swiftly decided that her recent attempts at being persuasive would have to do for the day.

"That's enough talking for tonight, I think," the young woman drowsily declared. "I'm going to sleep. 'Night, Maisie."

 _ **"Good night, Asuka,"**_ Maisie answered with what the redhead could picture as a smile. _ **"Sweet dreams."**_

The sleepy woman smiled gently and stopped focusing on her inner link, closing her eyes once again and tuning in for some well-deserved rest.

It wasn't too long until Asuka Sohryu fell asleep, and Maisie's words turned prophetic: the young woman smiled widely in her sleep as she blissfully dreamt of imparting swift and painful retribution on a cobalt-eyed young man.


	6. Work Opportunities - Part 1

"...So, why did you drag me down here, again?"

The redhead's question oozed annoyance through every syllable, as she threw one of her infamous glares at the back of the woman she had pretty much been forced to follow.

Asuka Sohryu's death-glares had the very well-deserved honour of having been very rarely resisted in an unflappable manner, by very few individuals. Most of the time, her scowling afflicted half of her targets with an almost instantaneous cold sweat, with the other half managing to withstand the pressure for barely a few seconds; eye-to-eye contact was optional, but tended to increase the terrifying effects of her most commonly used weapon tenfold.

It wasn't proving to be nearly as effective this time around, though, as the mauve-haired annoyance continued on with her activities with nary a worry.

"Come on, girl!" Misato Katsuragi cheerily replied, with much more energy than she had any right to possess. "Turn that frown upside-down!"

The redhead had momentarily entertained the possibility of her current half-asleep state having something to do with the reduced efficiency of her glaring, but a quick test on a passing, unsuspecting man earlier had revealed that not to be the case.

It had also revealed Yamese traditional clothing to absorb water very well, but that fact was beyond the purpose of the test.

Asuka sighed in irritation.

Taking into account the results of her experiment and the extended amount of time that she had spent targeting Katsuragi, it so appeared that Asuka would be forced to add another mark to the minuscule tally of impervious people, much to her irritation.

"How the hell can you be so goddamn lively?" the redhead growled through clenched teeth. "The sun's barely out!"

The young woman indignantly snapped her arm to the side as she spoke, pointing in the general direction from where the ancient star was starting to come up from its rising point above the sea.

"I already had my usual morning pick-me-up, of course!" Katsuragi shot back over her shoulder, going over some of the practice equipment stored in the racks of the militia training grounds. "As for _why_ I dragged you down here... Well I dragged you here to have some fun! What else?"

What Misato Katsuragi meant by ' _fun_ ' was painfully obvious, in light of their current surroundings. Asuka sighed and pinched her eyes tiredly. Every single one of the muscles in her body were telling her that it was _way_ too early in the morning for that kind of physical exertion.

"...And couldn't we have that fun later on? I really needed my beauty sleep..."

 _'Not to mention that I didn't get a chance to take a look at those books. Damn you, Katsuragi!'_

"Everyone rises nice and early in Akuro, save for those in night-time watch duty! _Everyone_ includes you too, kiddo, and I'm going to be making sure that you make yourself useful during your stay."

 _'...Great; nice and early, she says. This is going to go like my training days, isn't it?_ That's _one thing I'm going to miss from travelling with Yuri and his lazy troupe.'_

Resigning herself to an immediate future of rising with the sun, the redhead set her sleepy gaze on the back of the woman busily going about her work, trying to set her aflame through sheer willpower alone and finding very little success in her efforts.

"Can you at least wait a few minutes? I've been meaning to ask you a few questions about yesterday, you know?"

"You can ask me while we spar. Surely you can do both things at once?" Misato paused in her inventory checking and threw a look the redhead's way. "Sword or spear? I'm afraid axes like yours aren't very popular around here, kiddo."

"A spear will be fine. It's been a while since I used one, but I know my way around them," Asuka instantly replied. "Where are my weapons, by the way?"

"Over at our blacksmith's, I asked him to try and repair them. Axes and shields aren't his area of expertise, but I'm confident old man Satsuma will do a good job, anyway. His reputation precedes him; catch!" the Captain threw a wooden practice spear and Asuka easily caught it with both hands, before twirling it around her a few times to get a better feel for its balance. In the meantime, Misato grabbed a practice katana for herself and got into a ready position near the centre of a large, white circle painted on the ground. "How do you want to go about this? Best of three?"

"Sounds good to me," the redhead followed and got into a ready stance of her own, with the spear's head low to the ground and the shaft held upwards and across her body. "I'll even let you have the first move, Granny."

Misato matched Asuka's confident smirk with an amused look.

"I'd watch my words if I were you, Sohryu." The Captain's voice tread a fine line between joking and annoyed. "Someone might think you're asking for a beating, you know?" The mauve-haired woman gripped the handgrip of her practice weapon tightly, and made her body focus solely on the coming bout. "Ready?"

Katsuragi answered the silent and bold nod of the young woman before her with a quick lunge and a stab at her opponent's left shoulder, forcing a deflection and starting the friendly match. The Captain made to press her advantage further with a slash from the side, but an upwards slice from Asuka's spear forced her into a defensive sidestep instead. A series of combined stabs and short slashes followed, allowing the redhead to make full use of the distance her weapon allowed her, and Misato soon found herself surrendering the initiative and looking for an opening.

Something that didn't look all that likely to happen among the flurry of strikes coming her way.

"Should have expected that you'd be the aggressive type," the Captain commented, circling around in her retreat so as to not be pushed out of bounds.

"Combat should be quick and efficient, and I don't like waiting for stuff to come at me. Got a problem with that?"

"Not really, it's a refreshing change to see someone thinking outside the box. Too many trainees get stuck on pointless roles for weapons, and that can prove dangerous in and of itself."

Misato deftly evaded a powerful thrust aimed at her midsection and caused Asuka to lose her balance for barely an instant. The older woman quickly capitalized on the opportunity by cutting into the redhead's defences before she could fix her mistake.

A light tap on the right arm put Misato ahead on the scoreboard.

And left a shocked look that was absolutely _priceless_ on Asuka's face.

"Then again, unchecked aggression can be risky as well," commented the Captain with a smug smile. "You should look into fixing that before the old lady runs away with a victory, _Asuka-chan_."

Misato's mocking tone instantly shook the redhead from her stupor, and her previous surprise turned into determined indignation just as quickly.

"Savour it while you can," the foreign girl muttered through clenched teeth, hastily getting back into position. "I'm going to wipe that smile off your face!"

"Big words, kiddo," Katsuragi continued to tease. "How about some actual punch to back them up?"

Asuka's roar of _'I'll give you punch!'_ was all the warning Misato received before finding herself on the defensive once again. The clacking sound of the practice weapons filled the area once more, as the combatants traded blows with speed, power and elegance in equal measures.

No side managed to gain the upper hand, however, with Asuka making good use of her longer reach and being extra careful not to make mistakes, and Misato being unable to penetrate the redhead's defensive circle but managing to stay out of reach of her opponent's spear head.

Unbeknown to the both of them, their little match was attracting quite an audience.

Eventually, both sides fell back into a more calculated affair of striking where possible and weaving around the other's attacks. Both women were still far from exhausted, but it was becoming apparent that relentless assaults were not the way to go.

"You got any idea about what happened to that forest?"

Asuka's question was punctuated by the sound of a wooden katana deflecting against her spear.

"I'm afraid your guess is as good as mine, kiddo."

"Really?" she asked unbelievingly. "You have no idea?"

Misato disengaged and put some distance between the two of them before answering.

"Everything I can tell you is that we _think_ it has something to do with a hollow area a group of miners dug out while looking for iron," both combatants looked for weak points in their opponent's stance as they conversed. "The cavern was deep and too dangerous to explore at the time, so it's just a hunch for the most part, but Lady Ikari agrees with the chances of it being significant."

"What could a hole in the ground have to do with what's going on out there? It sure doesn't explain trees rotting and wolves spurting out that weird muck."

"I told you, no idea," Misato responded with a shake of her head. "But I do know that the timeframe of the discovery matches with the appearance of the little, skittering bastards."

Asuka blinked in confusion at the Captain's words, dropping her posture slightly.

"...The what?"

"You know, the little spider-like thingies with the huge eye?" Katsuragi elaborated, as it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Pops like an overripe watermelon and sprays that yellow goo everywhere when struck?"

The redhead blinked once again and allowed her stance to relax completely, deeming this line of questioning far more interesting than the sparring match itself.

"...I've got no idea what you are talking about."

Surprised, Misato soon joined the younger girl in momentarily dropping her guard.

"Lucky you, then," she commented. "We've found the damn critters burrowed inside the carcasses of all the afflicted animals we've felled. It's really no wonder why."

"They're... changing them?" Asuka ventured incredulously, before remembering another detail from the day before. "Well, that would explain the weird tiger, I guess."

"Actually, yes and no," Misato half-corrected. "I'm afraid what you met yesterday was a Nekomata."

"A... ' _Nekomata_ '?"

"Beastmen, or Changelings, I suppose you could call them. Savage men and women with the ability to transform into animals at will. They live in small tribes around the north of Yamato and in some places of the mainland. They mostly keep to themselves and the average Yamese is scared to death about the prospect of coming close to a Changeling, so we've never really bothered each other outside of some light trading. I guess you never heard of them?"

Judging by the open-mouthed disbelief in Asuka's face, Misato had the feeling that her last question had just proved redundant.

"...You're shitting me," the redhead eventually managed to breath out. "Half-animal people?"

"I'm not, trust me, although I wish I was. Many of them are going feral like the rest of the animals are, and we've been forced to put them down," Katsuragi elaborated with a grimace. "Facing down one of the things while it's transformed is _not fun_ , let me tell you. You would have gotten a chance to find out yourself had we not arrived when we did."

Asuka hummed in acknowledgement, then spent the next few moments silently going over and analysing the information she had just been given, a thoughtful look on her face.

When suddenly, the redhead's eyes refocused in an abrupt fit of fury.

"Now wait just a minute!" she demanded. "Half-animal or not, you're just _letting_ that happen to people?!"

"Know that many a Yamese would argue against considering Nekomata people, Sohryu-san," Misato calmly commented, continuing before the redhead could interject. "To answer your question, though, we _did_ offer them asylum in spite of the unrest that it'd have caused in the castle, but the tribes refused immediately and unanimously. Their spokesman said they would not hide cowardly behind a wall of stone like we did," she scoffed sadly. "Not like their prideful way of doing things is helping them any."

Asuka's expression turned forlorn at the explanation.

"Well, I can understand where they're coming from but, losing yourself like that... It's got to be horrible."

"Yeah, I imagine. I sure wouldn't wish that on anyone," the Captain agreed. "The only thing we can do for them is try and find a way to fix things up as soon as possible, though." Misato sighed before falling back into stance, the wooden blade held vertically before her. "But that's a worry for another time. I think we've had enough of a breather for now, want to pick things up again?"

"...Yeah, sure." Asuka shook her head to rid herself of the depressing train of thought and her eyes fell for the first time upon the small crowd that had gathered around the makeshift arena. Her troubled countenance shifted into a confident smirk in the blink of an eye. "Wouldn't want to keep our audience waiting."

"That's the spirit," the Captain commended, with just the slightest bit of tease to her voice. "Come at me, girl! Remember that you're still behind me!"

"Not for much longer!"

The redhead lunged forward in time with her challenging words, covering the ground between her and Misato in a split second and bringing her spear down for an overhead attack. Caught slightly off-guard at the speed of the charge, her opponent decided against parrying the move and sidestepped to the left instead.

Only to find herself forced to awkwardly parry the follow-up strike aimed towards the side of her stomach.

"That spin was pretty good," Katsuragi whistled in appreciation. "Are you awake now or what?"

With both her momentum and Misato's balance broken, Asuka decided to press her advantage for all it was worth.

"I'm more than awake," she grunted out, sending a flurry of thrusts and short slashes in the direction of her opponent. "You just got lucky before!"

"Of course, of course," the jester somehow managed to taunt while twisting her body away from Asuka's spear head. "I shouldn't expect any less from our local heroine, right?"

"What you can _expect_ ," the redhead bit out, making sure to cut out all of Misato's attempts to circle away from the boundary of the arena, "is a stick to the face when I'm done with you!"

" _Oh~_. _Someone's an-gry~_ "

Katsuragi's provocation was met with a slightly stronger strike of wood against wood, but no verbal response whatsoever. Her opponent was focused on the match and the match only, it looked like, zealously focused on winning.

But in spite of its intensity, precision and caution were two very well-represented traits in Asuka's offensive. Every attack had a defensive contingency behind it ready to be put to use in the case of a counter-attack, and the distance that the redhead made sure to keep between them guaranteed a window of opportunity to put said stratagems to good use.

Such a need never arose, however, despite a few minor mistakes that had the younger woman frowning in annoyance, much to Misato's amusement.

Eventually, though, and thanks to her opponent's relentless and well-executed onslaught, Katsuragi was forced into one last-ditch effort to avoid the edge of the ring: she ducked under a stab aimed at her upper chest and made to slash at Asuka's legs, but the younger woman reacted in time to retreat out of range and strike at the Captain's overextended form.

It wasn't long after Asuka's practice weapon lightly tapped Katsuragi's head that amazed whispers of ' _She hit the Captain!_ ' started flying around the audience. Misato had been certain that such a development would have had Asuka breaking into a proud grin but, much to her surprise, she raised her head to find the redhead still scowling at her.

"You got me," Katsuragi lamented in a ham-fisted manner. "Oh well, ready for round three, Asuka-chan?"

"As if," her opponent growled. "Why the hell are you holding back?"

"Holding back?" Misato blinked in surprise. "I don't know what-"

" _Don't bullshit me, Katsuragi_ ," Asuka angrily cut her off, eliciting whispers of shock and surprise from the audience. "I left a few openings on purpose for you to exploit and you didn't do anything about them! Not to mention that you've been making a huge show of twisting and turning all around but you're not even sweating! Do you take me for an idiot?!"

Misato made a token effort out of trying to match the young woman's inquisitive stare, but gave up with a profound sigh quickly enough.

"...Well, damn," she lamented, abashedly scratching the back of her head. "Guess I was a bit _too_ obvious..."

"You bet you were. And you can stop it, I don't need for you to go easy on me," the redhead continued lowly. "I'm not one of your trainees and I sure as hell don't want you treating me as one."

"I'm not-," Katsuragi started, before thinking better of it. "Look, me going all-out just wouldn't be fair. And I'm not even supposed to-"

"Fair?! Get off your high horse!" Asuka exploded, furiously getting back into stance and beckoning for Misato to do the same. "You can tell me all about how unfair it is after I've kicked your ass! Now, stop wasting my time and get serious!"

The Captain sighed deeply a second time.

"I'm not going to be convincing you, am I? ...Fine, you win. Just don't take it too badly, all right?" Katsuragi's face twisted slightly in disappointment. "There go my hopes for some light-hearted fun..."

Asuka was about to vehemently argue that _Misato_ should be the one worrying about taking things badly, when her words died on her lips, and she _gaped_.

Not because of the sudden shift in the woman's demeanour. The Captain's twin nature had been made apparent quite a few times already.

Not because of the aura of power and skill she was radiating, either. It had been clear in Asuka's mind from the very first time she met her that Katsuragi knew what she was doing as far as the art of war went.

Rather, she gaped because of the eerie green glow that shone brightly just below Misato Katsuragi's neck, around the area of her collarbone.

 _That_ sure as hell had not been there a moment ago.

Katsuragi got into stance. A different one than she had used before, with her blade held horizontally beside her head.

And Asuka suddenly felt woefully inadequate.

"You get the first move, kiddo," Misato seriously declared. "Better make it count."

The whispers in the audience turned into full-blown cries of surprise and admiration at what apparently was a rare sight, but Asuka paid them no mind. The redhead was busy enough with trying to have her brain make sense of what she was seeing, and with keeping her hands from shaking.

 _'W-What's going on here?'_

Asuka could feel her bravado completely escape her body, and the practice weapon in her hands feel foreign. In the face of such a strange development, she felt like the rookie she had been during her first day of training, hesitant to act for fear of being injured.

It must have been written all over her face, for Katsuragi quickly took notice of her reluctance.

"...I can come to you, if you'd prefer."

Asuka swallowed loudly, but forced her body to stay calm. She then slowly shook her head in the negative, taking in a big mouthful of air.

 _'...The hell am I thinking? So what if Granny did something weird? I'm Asuka the Red. I don't back off from a challenge.'_

The Captain nodded her agreement and waited patiently.

In the course of a few seconds and after some deep breaths, Asuka fell back into stance, evaluated her options, and settled on a plan of attack. Her azure eyes now held the same determined glint that Misato had come to attribute to the girl.

The arena fell deathly silent, with everyone present waiting on baited breath for the duel between the militia Captain and the unknown stranger that had arrived the day before to come to an end.

Eventually, the girl squared her shoulders and struck forward.

And missed.

Asuka _had_ been expecting to miss, though. After all, if there was one thing that had become exceedingly apparent during their short duels, it was that Misato Katsuragi was a woman very fond of her dodges. Keeping that in mind, the redhead had been betting on the idea of charging forward recklessly and trying to catch her flat-footed for the win. Or at least to force a tie.

But she had not been expecting for her opponent to veritably _disappear_.

 _'What the-?!'_

She had barely seen her move; one instant Misato was in her stance right in front of her, and the next she was at her left side, sword held ready to strike downwards.

Using her forward momentum in the best way she could manage, Asuka threw herself towards the opposite side and brought back her weapon into the closest thing to a defence she could muster, just as Misato's practice katana came bearing down on her.

And the next thing she knew, Asuka was holding onto two separate pieces of wood.

She wasn't allowed time to ponder on the amount of force necessary for such a feat before the Captain continued her attack, however. One strike was followed by a second, and then by a third, each one as fast and powerful as the first blow had been and showing no signs of stopping.

To her credit, Asuka managed to block the entirety of the furious flurry of blows that rained on her from practically every angle, despite their sheer speed. Some of them she could barely see coming, and others were blocked by pure, dumb luck.

But her best efforts proved insufficient. A lightning-fast sweep of Asuka's legs while she was still unstable cleanly dropped her to the ground, which she hit with a heavy thud. The impact knocked the wind out of her, and the young woman curled on her side and started to cough painfully.

"...My win. Doesn't really feel like one, though," Misato declared, somewhat sadly. She then turned to address the speechless audience, commandingly. "Get back to work, everyone. Nothing to see here."

The crowds argued for a few moments, but it wasn't long before Asuka could make out the sound of several footsteps starting to walk away. Managing to get her coughing fits back under control, she put both hands against the ground and pushed herself into a sitting position.

And, out of the corner of her eye, managed to witness the greenish glow fade away until it completely disappeared from sight, as if it had never been there.

 _'How? What was all that about? There's no way someone can move that fast.'_

"You okay, kiddo?" Katsuragi questioned in a worried tone, offering her a hand up. "Nothing broken, I presume?"

Her mind still spinning from both the impact and the absurdity of what she had just seen, Asuka instinctively reached out to the offered hand and allowed herself to be pulled up to her feet.

"Nope," the Captain commented in relief at watching the foreign girl show decent capacity for standing upright. "Doesn't look like we're going to be needing Horaki around, yet."

Asuka merely grunted in response at Katsuragi's weird remark and made to break her grip on her forearm. What could they be needing Hikari for, after all?

That question was shelved aside in favour of a different one, however, when Asuka found herself unable to free her appendage from Misato's iron grip.

The young woman turned to look at her senior, and found her sporting the same expression she thought she had imagined seeing on her the day before.

Asuka swallowed unconsciously.

"So... Can I ask you a question of my own, now that we are done?" the Captain began, her expression deadly serious. "Tell me: what's an Imperial girl like you doing in a place like Yamato?"

The younger woman stiffened in reflex at the unexpected question, her mind going into momentary overdrive to try and figure out where she had given herself out. The better part of her quickly clamped down on that train of thought, however, and centred her efforts on what truly mattered at the moment:

Namely, putting her game face on and trying to lie her way out of her dire situation.

"...I don't know what you are talking about."

But her best efforts proved unsuccessful.

" _Please, girl_. I used to spar with a man that fought just like you do, back in the day. Your fighting style isn't an exact replica, of course, but it's close enough to draw a parallel. You have Imperial army training, that much is obvious," Katsuragi smirked in amusement. "Not to mention your mannerisms, and the name of your horse. Those two alone would have been enough to draw the suspicions of anyone with a passing knowledge of Imperial culture."

Asuka raised an eyebrow at how familiar with everything Imperial Katsuragi seemed to be, and briefly wondered if the woman's knowledge had anything to do with the room she had stayed in for the night. As it stood, Asuka was heavily tempted to think ' _yes_ ', but that answer entailed some very interesting implications should her theory prove to be correct.

Could this man Misato had spoken about be one of her countrymen? That _Sensei_ that Ikari had mentioned the day before?

It certainly looked that way, and made a bit of hope blossom within Asuka at the prospect of walking out of this situation with all of her limbs intact.

But she was getting ahead of herself. The idea of her current position being less threatening than she had been led to believe was certainly nice, but she had no grounds to claim that her circumstances were similar to her predecessor's.

In any case, it was obvious that this sparring session had been nothing but a huge set-up for Misato to confirm her suspicions, but did that also extend to the woman's childish actions the day before?

Her explanation certainly seemed to imply such a thing. Which would mean that Misato Katsuragi was also much smarter and craftier than she let on.

And Asuka had fallen for the false sense of security she had been offered; hook, line and sinker.

The redhead narrowed her eyes in irritation, and mentally kicked herself; she should have known better than that.

"Am I in trouble?"

"That depends on your reasons," Misato answered with false nonchalance. "It's been a while since we beat back your countrymen, but none of us Yamese would like the prospect of another war at the moment. Are you here on behalf of the Empire?"

"I'm no spy, if that's what you're asking. I've got no love for the army, either, never even finished my training. I quit halfway-through and became an independent contractor, been travelling the world ever since."

"That's interesting," Asuka felt the hold on her wrist loosen just a smidge, and her hopes soar a bit higher. "However, and to my knowledge, the Imperial army isn't something you can so easily leave," a sudden flash of realisation crossed Misato's face. "Unless you were discharged?"

The younger woman's guarded expression gave way to a nasty snarl at the mention of the word.

"That's none of your business."

Inwardly surprised and somewhat curious at the sudden shift, the Captain was tempted for a moment to claim otherwise, but quickly decided against focusing on the apparently irrelevant details.

"...Fair enough. No point in digging up for uncomfortable details when your reaction tells me everything, anyway," Misato promptly moved to the next point of her questioning, her casual attitude unchanged. "So, I remember you saying that you were looking for work. That's all well and good, but I'm sure that you passed through places with much better work opportunities on your way to Yamato. You have an ulterior motive for being here. Care to elaborate?"

At the request, the redhead's face shifted into an amalgamation of negative emotions, sadness and anger being chief among them, with a trace of embarrassment on the side. She also looked quite a few years younger all of a sudden, in a way that Misato quickly recognized.

Asuka's eyes fell to the hand gripping her wrist.

"...Do I have to?"

If her body language wasn't a big enough clue already, Asuka's mellow words further proved that, whatever said motive was, it wasn't a comfortable topic for her.

"I'm afraid so," Katsuragi confirmed. "I wouldn't grill most people like this, but your situation has just become exceptional, Sohryu-san."

Misato's softer tone all but confirmed Asuka's continued good health for the near future, but the redhead didn't like the price that she was being asked to pay. It didn't look like she had much of a choice in the matter, however.

The girl stayed silent for a few seconds, hoping that the Captain would change her mind and deem her safe enough without her needing to explain herself.

But such a development didn't come to pass. Misato remained patient, but resolute.

Ultimately, Asuka turned her head to the side and gave her response. The way her left hand was tightly balled into a fist didn't escape Katsuragi's notice, either.

"...I'm looking for someone."

"Sorry, kiddo," the young woman's explanation was answered with a shake of the head. "But that's a bit too vague to accept."

The girl sighed melancholically, in a clear sign that she had been expecting such a reply. She then gulped audibly and went quiet.

Katsuragi could feel the hand she was holding shake slightly.

"...Fine. I'm looking for my mother," Asuka eventually elaborated, so quietly that her words could have been easily mistaken for the wind. "I have reason to believe that she's somewhere in Yamato."

Misato grimaced slightly at the way in which she had entered the forbidden territory she had managed to avoid the day before. The Captain had been all but certain that the conversation was bound to steer into uncomfortable domains and pressed forward anyway, but that didn't mean that she had to _like_ it.

She had her fair share of painful topics, after all.

"Why haven't I seen you asking around, then?"

The woman's question was laced with a tone of curiosity, rather than accusation.

"I _was_ going to after a bit of rest and relaxation, but _someone_ decided to barge into my room and ruin my plans," Asuka answered, with a bit of her usual bite behind her words. Misato was glad to hear it. "I don't have high hopes of finding her here, though. This place is small, and my surname didn't raise any eyebrows. Either of the Ikaris would have mentioned it yesterday if they happened to know her."

"She could be using a different name."

"I guess," Asuka conceded with a horribly failed attempt at a casual shrug. "But I pray she's not, or finding her will be all that much more difficult. I can barely remember her face, let alone single her out in a crowd after all this time."

Misato nodded and let go of the appendage she had been forcefully holding onto all this time, wordlessly clearing Asuka of any suspicion for the time being. Misato would admit to not being the best judge of character in the world, but the redhead's story and reactions sounded honest enough to be plausible, and also concurred with what few words about herself the girl had spoken the day before.

She could always be a _damn good_ actress, of course, but Katsuragi was leaning against that notion for the moment.

"...Sorry I had to dig that up, Asuka-chan. Part of the job."

"It's fine, I'm a big girl," the Captain couldn't help but notice that everything about the girl screamed otherwise. "I would've found it weirder for you not to press me in this situation, to be honest."

"Doesn't make it any better," Misato commented, before flashing an encouraging smile and turning around, heading back towards the weapon racks. "But now that we've discarded any possibility of nefarious plots, how about some post-workout refreshments?"

Asuka followed the older woman with her eyes, noticing for the first time a pair of small objects off to the side of the arena's circle: a wooden box and a cloth bag that seemed to have something inside.

The redhead raised an eyebrow, surprised. Both at having managed to miss the tiny items until now and at the latest of Katsuragi's mood shifts.

"...You ever get tired of going back and forth like that?"

"Not really," Misato responded, placing her wooden sword on the rack and picking up the cloth sack. "But hey, we can continue with our conversation if that's what you want."

"...Gods, no."

"Thought so," the mauve-haired woman opened the pouch and brought out a glass bottle, tinged in a greenish colour. A fluid swirled within, clearly some type of liquor. Katsuragi left the bottle beside her and reached out towards the wooden box. "Then it's decided! I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me, anyway."

"You bet I do." Asuka walked closer to the Captain and left her own weapon in the rack. "The hell did you do at the end of our match? I've never seen anything like it, not to mention that no person should be able to move that fast."

"Simple answer? I cheated. That's why I didn't want to go that far. Takes all the joy out of the fight," a small cup came out of the box, and Misato wasted no time in pouring the beverage into it. "And I'm not supposed to do that so frivolously, either."

Asuka narrowed her eyes at the nonchalant woman in annoyance.

"You're not answering my question."

"I know. Three guesses as to why," Misato offered the filled cup to Asuka. "Want some?"

The redhead stared at the small container for a moment, her mind elsewhere.

 _'So she's under some vow of silence, or something? Wonderful...'_

"Whatever, keep your secrets," she sighed, displeased. "And no, I don't want any drinks. Some water will be fine."

"That's funny. I thought you Imperials always jumped at any excuse for a drink. This stuff's good, trust me," Misato started to bring the cup to her lips but stopped halfway-through, the smile that Asuka had begun to find increasingly irritating spreading through her face. "Unless... You're a light-weight, aint'cha, Asuka-chan?"

The younger woman's cheeks coloured a soft pink and her glare gained a few levels of intensity.

"I can hold my liquor just fine, I just choose not to do so," Asuka ignored Katsuragi's grunt of disbelief and focused back on what was important. "In any case, at least answer me this: is what you did related in any way to the weird stuff Ikari pulled off yesterday night?"

Misato stared back at her, confused, and brought the cup back down to its original position.

"...I'm not sure I follow. Are you talking about Shinji?"

"Of course I am!" Asuka exclaimed, suddenly more agitated at the mention of the young Lord. "I don't know what it is that he did at the end of the meeting yesterday, but he made me go all dizzy and stuff!"

Katsuragi raised an eyebrow and remained silent for a few moments, before she put the cup down on top of the weapon rack, quietly laughing to herself. She then walked closer to Asuka and stared intently at her, her expression starting to morph into a Cheshire smile.

Said redhead wasn't exactly thrilled at the sudden scrutiny. She also found the recent developments kind of creepy, all things considered.

"...What?"

"Oh~" the older woman cooed. "What is this about going dizzy? Weak at the knees? I thought that you would be more into the Suzuhara types, _Asuka-chan_."

The young mercenary blinked once, uncomprehending. It didn't take long for her expression to change into barely restrained rage, though.

"Katsuragi. You know perfectly well that's not what I meant, so don't you freaking _start_."

"Fine, fine. You're no fun, kiddo, ripping a woman's wings off like that." The Captain rolled her eyes in disappointment, before throwing one last barb. "You've got to admit that he has some very pretty eyes, though. He gets them from his mother, you know?"

Asuka could feel a small and almost insignificant side of her agree with that statement. She was quick in chalking the thought up to Maisie.

"I wouldn't know, and I sure don't care," she growled. "Can we get back on topic now?"

"Sure. Relax, kiddo, I'm just teasing," Misato shrugged casually. "Your reactions are just plain hilarious most of the time, and you've got to admit that you handed me that one on a silver platter. Kinda wish that I could have taken it further, too..." the Captain reached out behind her and grabbed the previously discarded cup once again. "In any case, I still don't have the foggiest idea of what you're talking about, kiddo."

"...Well, I'm _honoured_ that you find me so interesting," the redhead responded drily, mentally tagging the older woman with plenty of less-than-savoury adjectives. "And don't tell me you didn't notice what he did. It's not like Ikari's muttering was exactly subtle."

"He was muttering something?" Misato repeated, before her eyes lit up in realisation. "...Ooh, I get it!"

" _Finally_. So you know?"

"Uh... sort of?" Katsuragi shrugged evasively, adding even more fuel to the flame of Asuka's irritation. "I don't think Shinji-kun was trying to do anything to _you_ if that's what you're worried about, but you're better off asking him rather than me about the details."

"Again with the secrecy?" Asuka threw up her hands in frustration. "And again with sending me Ikari's way? I thought I told you to stop that!"

"Nah, no secrets. And I don't have any ulterior motives, either. I just don't understand the stuff, and don't think I'd do a good job of explaining," Misato's semblance turned serious for a moment, and she took a small sip of her beverage. "I reckon that you don't want to see Shinji?"

"Well, _duh_ ," Asuka instantly responded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?" the older woman asked, genuinely curious. "He's a good kid, and we already established that what happened yesterday was my fault. Shouldn't you give him another chance?"

"And give you more ammo for your unfounded delusions? No, thanks," Asuka let out a disdainful scoff, not even bothering with entertaining the idea. "Anyway, if you won't, there has to be someone else in this place that can tell me."

Misato stared hard at the younger woman for a few moments, clearly cogitating and trying to make sense of the few scraps of information she had managed to glean off of the redhead's actions and words. Her efforts proved way too obvious, however, and it didn't take long for the young mercenary to intrude in her thoughts.

"...Well?"

In the face of the redhead's glaring impatience, the Captain sighed and shook her head, choosing to leave her deliberations for a later time; it didn't take her long to come up with an answer to Asuka's query.

"Yes, there is."

" _Who?_ "

"Rei Ikari, of course."

The redhead's eyes darkened considerably at the mention of the albino.

"Are you actually messing with me, Katsuragi?"

"No, I'm not. Rei and Shinji are siblings, and therefore share in that particular ability that you are interested in," Asuka made to interject, but Misato quickly cut her off. "And let me tell you before you ask that no, there's no one else in Akuro that will be able to explain Shinji's actions any better than either of them. Not at the moment, anyway."

The redhead's expression soured at the news, and she wasted no time in looking for any signs of dishonesty in both the Captain's words and demeanour. Her search turned up no evidence of her being lied to, however.

 _'So now I'm stuck interrogating either Wimpy Lord or Freaky Bitch. Gods, can today get any worse?'_

Both characters were abhorrent in Asuka's eyes, albeit for very different reasons. As far as she was concerned, though, there wasn't much of a choice between them.

" _Wonderful,_ "Asuka sighed tiredly, already wishing she hadn't bothered with waking up for the day. "Shinji it is, then. Where can I find him?"

"You'll find him at the archery range, practicing. It's over at the other side of the castle grounds."

"Great," Asuka acquiesced in a tone of voice that belied just how 'great' she thought her ordeals to be. "See you around."

No sooner did she have the information that Asuka Sohryu turned around and resolutely took the first step that would bring her to the archery range, and the damnable boy that practiced within. She'd had enough of Misato Katsuragi to last her the whole day, _thank you very much_.

...At least, that is, until a sharp tug on her collar stopped Asuka short.

" _Eep!_ "

The young woman quickly regained her balance and angrily turned back around, trying to bat the offending appendage away but not managing to strike before it retreated.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!"

Katsuragi's renewed look of amusement didn't exactly work towards calming Asuka down, either.

"Where do you think you're going, kiddo?"

"I don't know..." the redhead began, deadpan, "To the archery range, maybe? That's where you told me to go."

 _'Or are you starting to go senile, already?'_

"Oh, no, no, no..." the mauve-haired woman responded, her voice still full of irritating tease. "I told you that you'll find Shinji-kun on the archery range, sure, but that will be when we are done, a few hours from now. I still haven't made good on the promise I made to Rei-chan yesterday, remember?"

Asuka very much remembered said promise, just as well as she remembered the cold shiver that she had felt travel down her back at the time.

"...I thought that our match was supposed to be my punishment? It sure felt like it."

Katsuragi merely scoffed in response.

"As if, I told you that this was just for fun!" Misato shook her head slowly, as a vile smile that made her look more and more like an evil overlord gained hold on her face. "No, no, no... I'll be making good on my promise starting _now_ , meaning that _you_ are going to be my assistant instructor for _all_ of today, Asuka-chan..."

Asuka didn't like the sound of Katsuragi's voice one bit, let alone the fact that she was going to be stuck with the other woman for the better part of the day. Her nerves had barely been able to survive for a scarce hour in her company, and the redhead was loathe to imagine the state she would be in (both mentally and physically) by the time she was allowed to be on her way.

As she resigned herself to her immediate destiny with a heavy sigh, Asuka made a mental note of finding some way to get back at Blue Bitch for instigating this whole mess.

She also duly noted just how quickly Fate had decided to turn her earlier words prophetic, and make her day take a turn for the _even worse_.

Much to the girl's chagrin, this wouldn't be the last time.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's the first part of what's been the longest chapter in the story thus far. After the second part is up, we'll be having a short interlude and then move on to the next big plot-point.

In some darker news, though, I'm sad to mention that time to write has been on a downward spiral due to work this year proving far more gruelling than I was expecting, and my overall troubles with keeping a decent writing pace while still maintaining a modicum of quality. As such, some of the future updates might need some more time to come out, depending on how many snags I hit during the writing process; just a friendly heads-up.

Also, and on another note, I'm loathe to ask for comments in this manner, but some indication that people are actually enjoying this jumble of weird ideas I call a story would go a long way towards keeping my motivation up, and producing more and better quality content, quicker.

In any case, I'll see you guys in two or so weeks when I upload the second half of this chapter. Hope you enjoyed what's been shown so far.


	7. Work Opportunities - Part 2

The sun had been past its peak for some time when Asuka finally managed to make her way over to the archery range. Her head and torso drooped forward and her feet sagged slightly in clear signs of exhaustion, as the woman slowly pushed herself forward.

 _'...Ouch. My everything hurts...'_

It had certainly been a trying day for the redhead so far, because suffice to say that Misato Katsuragi's idea of an assistant instructor was... _interesting_. The _'try your hardest to get drunk while they do your job'_ kind of interesting.

A fact that didn't leave an amused Asuka Sohryu in its wake. Quite the opposite; and the damn woman had better not try to pile anything else on her as punishment for her supposed disrespect, either, or there would be _hell_ to pay.

Fight after fight. Trainee after trainee; two militiamen joined the fight for every one that she forced to bite the dust, in what had quickly become a battle-royale against the Imperial mercenary, one that had lasted for quite a few hours with very few breaks in between.

Their assault had been ferocious and relentless because, of course, Misato had seen it fit to announce Asuka's origins to all of her underlings as soon as they were assembled. In the name of _trust and openness in the Watchers_ , she had said.

Obviously, and knowing the history between the two countries, it hadn't taken long for the expressions of many of the men present to take a turn for the worse.

Especially Suzuhara. Meathead's expression had turned murderous so quickly that whatever few hopes of getting along with the guy Asuka may have had at the time had been shot down as quickly as an overweight wyvern, right then and there; Asuka severely doubted that anything of value had been lost with that, but it was still frustrating to see her options narrow due to forces outside of her control.

It was obvious that there was a bit of a story behind Meathead, too. Not that she cared.

However, and for all of its faults, the training session had served a bigger purpose than leaving her drained, proving to be a very cathartic outlet for her pent-up anger (and she'd had plenty of _that_ to go around). It had also served to heal the girl's wounded self-image after having been so easily beaten by Katsuragi, a fact that the redhead wouldn't have easily admitted to pretty much anyone.

Her feelings of inadequacy were a thing of the past, though, forgotten by the time she had dispatched her eleventh rabid trainee.

Suzuhara had proven to be the best of the lot, good enough to withstand more than three strikes, at least. Which wasn't saying much for the quality of the average trainee in the militia, all things considered.

In any case, the sacrifice of their pained bodies had served as a worthy vessel for Asuka to repair her momentarily shaken pride in her martial skills. As far as she was concerned, Misato had only won their duel because of her cheating, as the woman had very much already admitted to. Asuka considered herself at least her equal in everything else, and had every intention of working out a contingency for the Captain's tricks as soon as possible.

It would be hard, no doubt about it, especially with how tight-lipped everyone in Akuro seemed to be. But there was very little in the world that Asuka Sohryu loved more than a good challenge.

That thought alone had been enough for a small smile to make its way to the redhead's face, framed by the fine layer of messy auburn hair that fell over the front of her shoulders.

Needless to say, the ragged appearance and slow-paced actions of the girl had been enough for most superstitious Akurans to allow her a wide berth during most of the trip. Her guttural chuckling _probably_ also had something to do with that.

Nevertheless, Asuka raised her head and made sure to put her mane into something vaguely resembling its normal state before doing the same for the rest of her body. She might have been as exhausted as she had only been during her training in the army, but she would be _damned_ if she would allow herself to show any kind of weakness in front of the Ikari shrimp.

"I should still have enough time to get the answers I want out of Ikari, before I have to go back to the meeting with that goddamn drunkard."

Asuka's face twisted in disgust at the memory of her remaining chore for the day, before she stepped forward and into the archery grounds proper. When she failed to see signs of any practice targets or raven-haired perverts in the immediate vicinity she continued on, aiming towards a wide, short, and slightly elevated building off to the side.

"I only hope that it doesn't end up being another colossal waste of time. For her sake."

The woman had continued on her enigmatic streak when relaying her instructions, only letting out enough to claim that Asuka would like the topic of their conversation. Judging by the Captain's track record so far, however, the redhead had more than her fair share of doubts about her assertions being true.

But that was a worry for another time. Because for _this_ time, she had a wimpy boy to hunt down and interrogate.

...

Asuka would have loved nothing but to add _painfully_ interrogate _,_ but such a thing was surely (and regretfully) not in her best interests at the moment.

The redhead set foot inside the surprisingly expansive building and instantly identified it as some sort of storehouse for the archery range, the rows of Yamese-styled bows (or Yumi) and arrow quivers serving as a definite indication to that. A wide exit to the front of Asuka led to the shooting range itself, and a few small rooms of nondescript purpose stood towards the right wall. In the opposite direction of the rooms, Asuka spotted another wide door leading to a different open area.

The young redhead also spotted a familiar freckled girl quietly meditating in a corner of the room she had just entered, much to her surprise.

Hikari knelt on the floor, eyes closed and completely immobile for the most part, the steady raising and falling of her shoulders in rhythm with her breathing being the only thing that distinguished her from a very realistic statue; her hands were held together in front of her closed eyes, with the tips of her fingers touching their opposites in the shape of a triangle of sorts. The girl's lips appeared to be moving slightly in quiet whispering, but it was hard to tell from a distance.

Asuka didn't have the slightest clue about what Hikari's actions were all about, but if she'd had to venture a guess, she would speculate that the girl's pose held religious significance of some sort. The redhead didn't recognize it, but it sure looked like some of the silly stuff the religious nutjobs back home were fond of.

 _'Come to think of it, didn't Mr. Kaji mention some sort of pagan cult that was pretty influential around these parts? Some 'Lilith' deity, or something along those lines?'_

The redhead resolved to indulge her curiosity in that topic whenever the chance arose, in spite of her general lack of interest in piety.

Information _was_ power, after all.

In any case, Asuka wasn't sure if the praying girl had heard her enter the room or not, but the brunette was certainly showing no signs of the former. Not wanting to disturb Horaki's peaceful meditation, and not looking for the tense confrontation that would certainly come out of it, either, Asuka walked past as quietly as she could and made her way to the wide, open doors at the other side of the building.

And it was there, in the distance, that she found her quarry.

Ikari had changed out of the fancy clothing she had last seen him wearing and put on what Asuka supposed was a training outfit. It was black and white, with wide, loose sleeves and a lower part that looked more like a dress than men's (boy's) clothing. The right half of his back was also exposed, and Ikari held on to the string of a fairly large bow with the fingers belonging to that same side.

Oblivious to her scrutiny, Shinji Ikari picked a wooden arrow from the quiver by his side and notched it onto the bowstring, before raising the weapon in front of him and pulling on the cord in one fluid motion.

A surprised eyebrow rose on Asuka's face, and she slightly re-assessed her initial thoughts on Shinji Ikari from the day before.

The boy's frame _was_ scrawny, there was really no disputing that, but there must have been some muscle to his body judging by the ease with which he drew on the bowstring. The pervert was probably quite a bit stronger than he looked, all things considered.

Ikari's upper body was probably akin to her own, Asuka figured: all fibre and muscle.

Under the young woman's watchful gaze, the archer let go of the string, and the projectile soared through the air.

Bull's eye.

Asuka's eyes narrowed in annoyance at the sight and she moved to lean against the frame of the door.

 _'So he's not just a pervert and a wimp. He's also lucky,'_ the redhead crossed her arms and patiently waited for the next shot. _'He's got all of the aggravating traits, this one.'_

Barely stopping to acknowledge his previous shot, Ikari picked up a second arrow and notched it, going through the entire process in an almost identical manner as before.

Once again did the arrow fly. And once again, a perfect bull's eye.

Asuka felt her left eyebrow twitch, but decided to wait for a third shot before amending any previous thoughts.

She didn't have to wait long for the young Lord to prepare his third shot, almost mechanically going through the motions and letting it fly soon after, with exactly the same results.

The young mercenary grit her teeth together and pushed off from the surface she'd been leaning on, glaring daggers at the back of the unsuspecting boy.

Asuka was officially angry. And while her irritation at Ikari's near-perfect marksmanship was a relatively big part of said anger, that annoyance was actually overshadowed by a different feeling of indignation based on a very disparate notion:

Namely, the neutral poise that Ikari had maintained during his entire feat.

 _'The hell? The idiot fires three perfect shots in quick succession and he barely even reacts?! Is he even worse in the head than I think or what?!'_

It wasn't long before a plausible explanation for the young Lord's baffling lack of response made it to the forefront of her irate mind, though.

 _'Unless... That's it, he must be another cheater. Just like Katsuragi,'_ she sentenced, irrevocably. _'Any self-respecting marksman would have looked overjoyed at pulling off something like that.'_

It had been bad enough for him to be an aristocratic, perverted and wimpy excuse of a man, but he now _dared_ to spit on the honest efforts of anyone who practiced here by sticking to his dishonest ways?

That settled it, Shinji Ikari truly was the scum of the earth.

Disgusted by the latest development, Asuka was just about to head forward and do that which she had come here to do (as well as give the cheating bastard a piece of her mind), when a frosty voice from behind stopped her cold in her tracks.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Sohryu-san."

The redhead jumped a foot in the air and turned around in a flash, to find Hikari Horaki pointedly staring at her, arms crossed within her kimono sleeves and expression serious.

"Hi-Hikari!"

 _'When did she sneak up behind me?!'_

"That would be me, yes," the brunette replied tersely, visibly fingering something inside of her left sleeve pocket. "May I ask you what you're doing here, Sohryu-san? From what I heard, the archery range is not somewhere I'd expect you to frequent."

Asuka cursed her luck and did her best to quickly clear any signs of her previous foul mood from her face. Hikari looked furious enough as it was, and it wouldn't do for her to aggravate the elder Horaki any further if she could help it.

 _'It could be worse, though. At least she didn't tell me I was being too familiar there, or anything.'_

The redhead quickly regained her balance and got ready for the inevitable, for it looked like the confrontation she had been looking to put off wasn't keen on being ignored.

"...Yeah, bows aren't really my thing," Asuka motioned in Shinji's general direction with her head. "Misato told me something interesting earlier, and I'm here to ask the per-... _Ikari-dono_ about it."

The elder Horaki raised an eyebrow at the mention of Misato's name, but didn't ask about it.

"I see. I'm afraid that Ikari-dono won't be done with his training for some time, still. Please do not interrupt him."

The freckled girl's request had a definite edge of command to it, complete with the promise of unspeakable things to come for the non-compliant.

...And Asuka had the suspicion that whatever the brunette was fingering had something to do with said promise.

"I... wasn't planning on it."

"Certainly," Hikari fixed the redhead with a serious stare, and the latter couldn't help but feel just the _slightest_ bit intimidated. "But, when you do, do make an effort to treat him better than you did his sister yesterday."

At the mention of the hateful bluenette, Asuka had to fight the almost irresistible urge to make a face.

She succeeded, and managed to settle for a narrowing of her blue eyes.

"I was more respectful to her than I've ever been to any noble in my life. It's no issue of mine that your Lady didn't see it that way."

"Respectful?! No, you weren't! You were very much out of line, Sohryu-san, and your actions reflected equally as badly on my person!" Hikari's expression darkened considerably, and the redhead felt a familiar twinge of guilt take hold of her stomach. "I haven't felt so ashamed in my life!"

...

Well, she hadn't looked at things _that_ way, Asuka realised.

She had very much assumed that Hikari had become angry with her out of the usual sense of loyalty and boot-licking that was common with aristocracy, but she hadn't really entertained the notion of the girl having felt mortified on her behalf.

Then again, she probably should have seen it coming. The Yamese were always keen on putting honour and appearances on a very high pedestal, after all.

"Look, making you go through a bad time wasn't my intention."

"Then you hid those intentions masterfully well, Sohryu-san." Hikari scoffed, making the redhead recoil slightly in surprise. The brunette then turned and started to march in the direction of the closed door Asuka had seen earlier. "If you'll excuse me, I have duties to attend to."

Hikari entered the small room and toiled inside for a few moments. She then brought out a few armfuls of clothing from within, which Asuka quickly identified as the same kind of black and white uniform that Ikari was currently using. However, these ones were visibly dirty and in need of some washing, with some of them requiring additional mending.

Hikari laid the clothing on the floor and started to sort through it, leaving the pieces that required special attention in a separate pile.

Asuka looked to and fro between the working brunette and the practicing boy for a few moments, mentally debating what to do next. Not long after, she let out a silent sigh and moved closer to the pigtailed girl.

Ikari could wait. Hikari had _'requested'_ that she not bother him for the time being and it was probably a good idea not to antagonize her any further than she already had.

Hikari eyed her for a short moment as she approached, but carried on with her work without a word.

"...Can I help you with that?" Asuka eventually asked, after a few seconds of tense silence.

"Thank you, but these are my duties," the brunette replied, as tersely as before. "I wouldn't want to burden you with them, Sohryu-san. I trust that you have more pressing matters?"

"Yeah, well, my matters aren't _that_ important. I insist. It looks like a lot of work for only one person," the Imperial girl walked around the big pile of clothing and knelt down on the side opposite to Hikari's. "You're going to take these clothes for cleaning, aren't you? I don't know where you clean them, but I can take most of them and save you a second trip."

Even if the redhead's tired arms would very much protest that idea.

The freckled girl watched as Asuka Sohryu forced herself as an assistant to her work, intently separating the damaged clothing from the rest of the pile just as she had been. The redhead might not have been as efficient at it as she was (and made quite a few mistakes along the way), but Hikari would have been lying if she had claimed the extra pair of hands not to be welcome.

The unspoken apology hadn't been lost on her, either.

The brunette sighed and shook her head, opting to continue her work; unspoken or not, that was already more than she had gotten from Toji.

It wasn't long before the two women had everything sorted out into a few neat piles and ready for transport. Staying true to her word, Asuka did most of the heavy lifting, and soon found herself barely able to peek over a wall of fabric that weighed quite a bit more than appearances would lead to believe.

Hikari had expressed some concern about their arrangement, but the redhead brushed her off without a second thought and told her to lead the way. In spite of her confident words, however, not crashing into anything was proving to be quite the challenge.

It took them just shy of twenty minutes to make the delivery and return to the archery range, and Asuka was glad to see that Hikari had mostly returned to normal in the course of their chores. The brunette's serious countenance had visibly softened, and she had even cracked a joke or two in their time together.

Said quips might have been at Asuka's expense, sure, but it was better than nothing and it wasn't like they had been hurtful in nature. Once again, the young woman merely rolled with the punches and allowed Horaki to get it out of her system.

She would call that much a fairly decisive victory.

Now free to pursue her main objective once more, however, Asuka wasted no time in hurrying to the perverted Lord's last known position...

...only to find it vacant.

Annoyed but not deterred by this turn of events, she searched up and down the rows of practice targets, inside the storeroom Hikari had used earlier and even checked out the roof as well as she was able from below (just in case), but, much to Asuka's chagrin, Shinji Ikari was nowhere to be found within the archery grounds.

 _'Just great,'_ the redhead fought down the urge to palm her face. _'Now I'm going to have to track down the pervert again!'_

"...That's odd," Hikari mentioned, stepping next to Asuka and getting a good look of the surrounding area. "Ikari-dono normally practices for a while longer. I wonder if something happened?"

Asuka was about to ask the brunette about any cowardly escape routes Ikari could have taken when a quiet _'woosh'_ sound, followed by much more energetic cheering, brought their eyes to the third, as of yet unexplored exit of the archery building.

" _-again! Do it again! Do it again!..._ "

Two distinct and youthful voices chorused in endless repetition for an encore of whatever game was going on over in the distance.

Two childish voices that sounded awfully familiar to the redhead.

At her side, Hikari groaned and massaged her brow; that, right there, was pretty much all the confirmation Asuka could ever need.

"...Looks like those two found themselves a new playmate."

Wasting no time, the brunette charged forward towards the open entryway. Asuka followed soon after, but nothing could have prepared her for the scene that would greet her at her destination.

The young woman blinked in open-mouthed surprise, and failed to hold in a snort of amusement.

Sakura and Nozomi hung off Rei Ikari's white kimono, chanting their mantra of _'do it again'_ in that tireless and aggravating manner that only young children were able to properly pull off. Meanwhile, the bluenette tried to weather the childish storm as well as she was able, keeping a leather ball out of reach of their tiny hands while trying to serenely get a word in edge-wise, to very lacking results.

"Girls! Manners!" Hikari demanded, seamlessly slipping into her authoritative persona. "Stop bothering Lady Rei like that!"

In stark contrast to the day before, however, Hikari's commanding presence failed miserably in calming down the young children. Nevertheless, it did find some success in winning the albino's attention.

"It is quite all right, Horaki-san, do not trouble yourself," Rei responded, turning to address the two exuberant balls of energy right after. "Very well. I shall perform once more, but this shall be the last time. Understood?"

The two kids looked at each other for a fleeting moment before eagerly nodding their heads and letting go of the young Lady, their objective accomplished. They then hurried to Hikari's side and turned to witness whatever was about to happen with barely contained excitement.

Not a glance was spared in Asuka's direction, and the redhead felt her annoyance surge slightly at the fact. Blue eyes glared in the direction of Rei Ikari.

The bluenette responded by acknowledging Asuka's stare for a second, before turning her head away and throwing the leather ball high into the air.

And then, Asuka witnessed the most incredible event of her short stay in Akuro.

The redhead felt a sudden gust swirl around her and head upwards, and the faint feeling of a familiar sensation course through her body, only much less intense than it had been the day before; meanwhile, Sakura and Nozomi watched in open-mouthed awe, under the vigilant gaze of their guardian.

"Lady Rei is quite good with children, isn't she?" Hikari covertly whispered.

Asuka listened to the brunette's praises with half an ear, but her attention was focused on a much more significant matter. A matter that had gone up into the vast skies but, in contradiction to every law of physics and logic that the girl was aware of, refused to come back down.

"...The- The ball is floating in midair!"

Bafflingly enough, Hikari didn't seem to find this impossible situation the slightest bit strange.

"Yeah!" Hikari smiled widely. "She's also quite skilled, wouldn't you say?"

Once more, Hikari's words barely reached the open-mouthed redhead, busy as she was imitating a goldfish while trying to rationalize the preposterous sight her eyes were witnessing.

 _'Is it the wind? It's got to be, but where the hell did it come from?'_

And suddenly, the winds ceased on their activity, just as quickly as they had come. The levitating ball, without the support that held it afloat, fell to the ground with a dull thud, bouncing away towards one of the corners of the area.

Asuka followed the rolling toy with her eyes, her brain working at full speed towards rationalizing the latest events until a possible theory sprang to mind:

 _'Maybe a funnelling system that channels the winds from the nearby cliff-face towards this area, for whatever purpose?'_

Asuka looked up and down, and searched left and right of her current position for any evidence that would point to her current theory being correct. She found none, much to her chagrin, but wasted no time in starting to consider alternatives.

At least, until her ruminations were interrupted.

"...Asuka-san?" the brunette beside her asked cautiously. "Are you all right?"

Hikari's words jolted Asuka out of her self-induced trance, and the redhead came back to her senses to find herself the target of four pairs of curious eyes, two of which belonged to a pair of giggling and whispering brats.

"...Yeah," the redhead answered, giving up on figuring out the puzzle for the moment. "Perfectly fine."

Hikari looked unconvinced but, fortunately for Asuka and for the well-being of what remained of her dignity, Ikari decided to take matters into her own hands, speaking up and returning a semblance of normalcy to the situation.

"I would like to speak with Sohryu-san in private for a few moments, Horaki-san."

Hikari's eyes jumped from red to blue in a flash, her thoughts on Rei's surprising request clearly written on her face.

"Umm... My lady? I don't think that's a good idea, considering your past... disagreements."

"Your worries are appreciated but misplaced, Horaki-san. Since yesterday, both Captain Katsuragi and myself have spoken at great length with my brother, and we have come to an agreement that should prove beneficial to all," the bluenette briefly glanced in Asuka's direction. "I shall tell Sohryu-san about said arrangement momentarily, but I would welcome your collecting of these two children. I believe that we have abundantly enjoyed each other's company by now."

 _'Talk about a pretentious way of asking her to get the brats out of here,'_ Asuka mentally commented, her expression going deadpan.

Said children wasted no time in loudly voicing their objections to Rei's proposal, clamouring for another demonstration in spite of the agreement they'd reached mere moments before.

Once again, like only small children could.

Hikari, for her part, looked embarrassed both at the mention of her charges and their current behaviours, and made sure to quickly secure a good hold on both of them. Instinctively reacting to the dreadful stimulus, both children stiffened like boards and fell eerily silent.

"Y-Yes! Of course, my Lady!"

Hikari managed just enough time to throw a warning glance the redhead's way, before quickly and efficiently turning around and making for the exit, both protesting kids in tow.

...

For some strange reason, Asuka had the sinking feeling that she didn't want to be in either of their shoes at the moment; her mind instantly conjured the image of Hikari looking angry and fingering whatever item had been inside of her sleeve, and she came to the conclusion that both kids would end up finding out what exactly the thing was before she did.

That was probably a good thing.

Not that her own situation was worthy of celebration, however. Levitating toys and interesting puzzles notwithstanding, she didn't like the sound of a _'beneficial agreement'_ that had had Rei Ikari's input thrown into it, after all.

"So?" Asuka braced herself and turned to face the last remaining person in the area. "What is this important arrangement that you want to speak about?"

But the immediate and dire response that the redhead had been expecting didn't come. Instead, Rei lightly shifted in place for a moment, clearly uncomfortable with something. What that 'something' was Asuka would not find out just yet, for the bluenette got over her distress before she could question her about it, launching into her explanation in that characteristic monotone that was starting to drive the redhead nuts.

"My brother, in his generosity, has decided to grant you the privilege of conducting yourself as you would in your homeland. In return, shameful displays akin to yesterday's shall no longer be tolerated."

Asuka blinked at the young Lady's words.

"Wait, what?"

 _That_ , Asuka had to admit, was a much more positive outcome to yesterday's debacle than she had been expecting. Definitely a far cry from being forced to follow humiliating Yamese tradition in whichever meeting with the Ikaris she ended up attending.

...Which would be _none_ , so long as Asuka was allowed to decide in that regard.

"News about your origins have spread speedily, Sohryu-san, and we are well aware of how differing our customs are, here, in Akuro. Especially Shinji," Rei continued, in the face of the redhead's befuddlement. "Personally, I do not believe that such a thing should excuse either you or your previous actions, but that is my brother's decision to make."

 _'Huh, would you look at that. I guess I should be thanking that Sensei character that came here before me?'_

"I believe that this arrangement shall not prove a problem to you, Sohryu-san?"

There was only one answer to that question, as far as Asuka was concerned; besides, if the irritating woman in front of her was going to make a show of putting their differences aside for the time being, Asuka had no intention of proving any less capable.

"Sure, that's fine by me," the redhead shrugged nonchalantly. "You've got yourself a deal."

As soon as she voiced her agreement, Asuka found herself the target of a clearly expectant pointed look. The redhead found herself confused for a few moments, but it didn't take her long to realise the _why_ and quickly move to amend her mistake.

She had to fight hard not to roll her eyes, though.

"... _Your Highness._ "

"Good." Rei quietly remarked, prompting Asuka to bristle slightly in response. The bluenette then crossed her arms through the insides of her kimono sleeves, before continuing with her usual serious countenance. "Moving on, it has come to my attention that you are inquiring about yesterday's meeting. I would prefer if you refrained from extorting the answer you seek from my brother, so I shall assist you in that purpose, instead."

The redhead raised a curious eyebrow in return, although she couldn't claim to being surprised by this point.

"And how do you know that? Let me guess: Katsuragi?"

"I have my ways, but the Captain was not involved this time."

"So you have someone checking my every move, then. Annoying, but sensible." The redhead rolled her shoulders and looked around her in the faint hopes of pinpointing the current location of her follower. She wasn't successful (unsurprisingly), and turned her attention back to addressing the woman in front of her. "You're adamant about doing this yourself, aren't you?"

"Correct," the young Lady gave a small nod.

"Can I ask why?"

Rei's eyes narrowed infinitesimally, and the power behind her voice rose a similar amount.

"Agreement or not, I do not trust you within striking distance of my brother."

Agreement or not, Asuka couldn't stop herself from making a face at her reasoning, either; thankfully, the bluenette didn't seem to mind.

 _'Jeez, talk about overprotective. No wonder the guy's such a wuss.'_

Her point made, Rei motioned behind her to the spot where the ball had levitated a few moments earlier.

"At any rate, I am much better suited towards explaining than Shinji is, as I have just established."

Asuka wasted no time in jumping at the chance to have the past, bizarre events interpreted.

"Speaking of, what the hell was that?"

"I shall go into the details another time," the bluenette evaded, bringing a frown to Asuka's face. "Suffice to say, I possess the ability to influence the elements around me, with a notable affinity for wind. My brother does as well."

 _'...Controlling the elements at will? That sounds a lot like... magic. Or like the descriptions I've read, at least. But that can't be, right? Everyone knows that the tales of Emperor Franz throwing fireballs left and right are pure made-up bullshit!'_

"...You're kidding, right?" Asuka half-whispered, hoping that Ikari would burst out laughing and whip out another explanation, one that made sense and didn't sound like it belonged in a silly fairy-tale; the bluenette's expression remained as stoic as always, however. "...You're not kidding."

"Would you remain incredulous to that which your very own eyes have seen?" Rei questioned, with apparently genuine curiosity. "I may offer another demonstration, if you would like."

"No, I'll pass on that," Asuka hurriedly dismissed the offering. "But how does that tie in with your brother, anyway? Did he use his magic on me, or what?"

"So you _are_ familiar with the term, I see. My brother is not as adept with his gift as I am," the bluenette explained. "He used a simple spell that he favours in stressful situations, and some of his mana must have escaped without his notice, influencing you."

"That sounds awfully convenient."

Rei's shoulders rose a bare millimetre in response to the redhead's dry tone.

"Perhaps it does to someone without any real knowledge of the arts. Am I correct in assuming that magic isn't commonplace in the Empire?"

Asuka narrowed her eyes slightly in response, but decided to concede the point.

"You're right. I've seen plenty of tricksters and entertainers call themselves 'mages', but nothing like... _that_." The young mercenary pointed towards the rough area where the ball had been flying mere minutes before. "The only place I've heard of people summoning gale storms and thunder is in the old stories, or even older books."

 _'...And Batavia, come to think of it. But I thought that old hag was pulling my leg.'_

"I see. Then it is safe to assume that you never built a resistance to foreign mana, unlike most of the denizens of Yamato. That should be a temporary state of affairs, however."

"Resistance? Foreign Mana?" Asuka echoed, with just a tiny little bit of concern in her voice. "Is that dangerous?"

A demure shake of the head.

"Hardly so. Foreign mana is indeed capable of harming an unprepared individual, but neither my brother nor I are able to release the vast amounts of mana required to do so." The redhead let out a short, relieved breath at Rei's words, before the young Lady continued speaking. "In any case, is my explanation to your satisfaction, Sohryu-san?"

Asuka paused to take a look at the sky, and found the sun getting closer and closer to the finish line of its inexorable descent. The part of her that thrived in the libraries of her old university wanted to ask Blue for more details, but she decided to push those urges aside in light of the approaching end of the day.

She still had a meeting to attend, after all.

"...It'll do for now, I guess."

"Very well," Rei walked past the redhead and motioned for her to follow. "Then let us head to the Captain's quarters as soon as possible."

"...Us? What do you mean, _us_?"

"I have been asked to attend as well, of course. On behalf of my brother, no less," the bluenette paused, looked back over her shoulder, and _smirked_. "I shall look forward to your continued compliance with our arrangement, Sohryu-san."

-]LotF[-

Asuka came out of the meeting with Misato feeling more excited than she had been in weeks. Her part in it had been a pretty brief affair all things considered, as Misato had been in her Captain persona since the moment they had entered her office and proven to be very concise and efficient in her briefing, a fact that Asuka's tired body had very much appreciated.

Even if her exhaustion had given way to the aforementioned excitement by the time the main topic for the reunion had been revealed.

Essentially, Asuka had been formally contracted to participate in an assault into the mineshafts that Misato had mentioned during their morning spar. Three days from then, she would be accompanying a small team of the best soldiers the militia had, with Misato as their leader. Their mission: to try and find out the source of the corruption that had befallen the area and deal with it.

Permanently.

Clear-cut instructions, with well-defined objectives and a _more than generous_ payment. Just the kind of job that the redhead loved to be asked to carry out. The lack of information on what the situation at the mines would prove to be and the suddenness of it all was somewhat concerning (and the young mercenary was sure that Blue and Misato had been discussing that at length after she had been dismissed), but not enough to dampen Asuka's spirits at the prospect of a very profitable first job in Yamato.

...So long as thecontract was legitimately worded, that is; she couldn't tell heads from tails of that chicken-scratch the Yamese called a writing system, after all, and Misato's word was all the backing the parchment had. Then again, the woman had been honestly surprised at Asuka's literate inability, so it was unlikely for foul play to be afoot.

With that in mind, the redhead had been quick to safely tuck the proof of the agreement inside the empty sheath of her trusty knife, after neatly and carefully folding it a few times. She would have preferred to use a pocket for storage, of course, but the armour that she had worn throughout the day had very little in the ways of those.

It still served its purpose well enough, however, and allowed Asuka to concentrate on tending to her roaring stomach with a well-deserved feast.

Dinner itself had been an unsurprisingly tense affair as well, what with the amazing speed at which news seemed to travel in the castle, but Asuka had honestly expected things to turn out more hostile than they actually did. She had certainly felt the hateful stares of more than one individual, but no one had dared to try and do anything more than that.

For that to be the case, news of the thrashing she had delivered upon the militia trainees must also have come out, hand in hand with the tale of her origins.

Not that Asuka cared much about the opinion of some backwards idiots, by any means. She would have preferred to keep a more amiable relationship in the name of any future business, sure, but she could live with such a slight setback considering that there was bound to be plenty more work in the rest of the island for someone of her skills.

So long as her next job went flawlessly (and it couldn't possibly go wrong with her on board), the redhead would be home-free to leave Akuro behind and move on with her more pressing objectives.

 _'And won't_ that _be a nice thing to have!'_ Asuka thought, pausing in her walk down the hallway outside her room to take a look at a pretty painting she had somehow missed until then. _'Being back on the road, seeing and learning new things, and not having to deal with buffoons like Katsuragi or arrogant and debauched nobles like-'_

The girl's thought-process halted at once when a pained yelp suddenly reached her ears. Not so much because of the all-too-common occurrence of someone hurting themselves, but rather because of the source of the noise:

That is to say, from somewhere within her room.

Instincts flaring into action with trained efficiency, Asuka quickly and silently moved to stand in front of the door to her quarters. The redhead had already grabbed hold of the door's handle when she felt the sliding door part open through no effort of her own. She raised her eyes, surprised, and found herself staring at an annoyingly familiar pair of azure orbs.

The owner of said eyes stared back, and his expression froze in a terrified visage.

Asuka saw red.

"S-Sohryu-san!" the boy started. "T-This isn't-!"

The rest of Shinji's undoubtedly outlandish effort at saving himself was lost when the redhead pushed Ikari hard towards the bed and swiftly stepped inside the room, shoving the sliding door closed before following the off-balance boy and pinning him on top of the mattress and under her body. She then reached behind her before the lecherous pervert could react and pulled out her trusty knife from within its sheath, bringing it to rest against Shinji's neck in one fluid motion.

...

...Or what would have been her trusty knife, had Asuka been allowed to carry it around the castle grounds. Instead, she found herself holding a neatly folded piece of parchment against the boy's throat, much to their shared shock.

Both teens stared at each other in poignant silence as the absurdity of the situation dawned on them .

 _'...Goddammit, Asuka. First you get your ass handed to you by Katsuragi and now this? I'm slipping a lot today...'_

"S-Sohryu-san?" Shinji tentatively ventured, in the face of the scary woman's silence. "W-What are you doing with that?"

"...Shut up!" Asuka recovered, fighting hard to push back the embarrassed blush that threatened to blossom on her cheeks. "You're talking to a professional soldier, you know?! You don't want to know half the stuff I can do to you with just a piece of paper!" She pushed the harmless weapon further against the quivering boy's neck and leaned forward in an intimidating manner. "Now talk! What were you doing in here?! Hoping that I would have been asleep and defenceless already, didn't ya?! Then decided to test your luck and pick up a souvenir when you found the room to be empty?! Is that it?!"

"No!" Shinji vehemently denied, eyes wide and shaking his head furiously. "I just came in to pick up a few books I forgot to retrieve yesterday!"

"Really, Ikari? That's gotta be one of the oldest excuses in the book! I know your kind! You'll have to try _way_ harder than-!"

Asuka took her eyes off the young Lord and looked for evidence laying around to further prove her point, like one of her personal effects or (God forbid) some of her spare underwear. Ikari _had_ indeed been holding something while in the doorframe, but the redhead had not taken a good look at what it had been before her training kicked in.

Instead, she found the spine of a leather-bound book resting an arm's distance away. The clearly legible name of its author, one _Viktor P. Valshanaar_ , taunted her in more ways than one.

" _...Oh._ "

The redhead snapped upwards and quickly checked her surrounding area, while ignoring a few groans of protest coming from Ikari. Her search told her the location of three other books lying discarded on the floor, and a further look in the direction of the bookcase revealed six empty spots within it that certainly hadn't been there in the morning.

Asuka made a face as the implications of her discovery dawned on her.

 _'...Well, shit.'_

"Hmm... S-Sohryu-san?" Shinji timidly called out from below. "Do you think you could...?"

Asuka looked down at the trapped boy that was trying his hardest not to return the gesture and carefully processed their current circumstances with the exceptional intellect that she often prided herself on.

And it was then that a second realisation regarding her current position revealed itself to her, and the young woman jumped away from the bed with a speed that would have no doubt impressed Misato.

"Ack!"

The redhead pushed herself against the wall, while Shinji rose and balled himself at the edge of the bed, hiding his face from sight.

And Asuka wished that she could do the same, because she was pretty sure that, should the fires in the room fail somehow, her face alone would be able to light the entire chamber for the time being. She had the feeling that Ikari wasn't far behind her on that front, either.

...

Asuka didn't need explanations as to _why_ the pervert wasn't standing up, after all, much to her further embarrassment.

Tense moments of silence followed, with Shinji huddled up at the edge of the bed and Asuka pointedly staring at anything _but_ the young man.

 _'...Well, this is awkward. Agh! Way to think ahead of your actions there, Asuka.'_

Hell, embarrassing situation aside, she had come _this_ close to putting her trusty knife on Ikari's neck, which more than broke all of the stipulations of the agreement she had agreed to not that long ago.

She wasn't looking forward to Blue finding out about such a scene, that was for sure, which meant that finding some way of turning the current situation around was probably in her best interest.

...

...Too bad that she was drawing a total blank on the _how_ , though.

Finally, and after what seemed like an eternity, Ikari stood up from the bed and slowly headed towards her, eyes glued to the floor. She was just about to open her mouth to say something, _anything_ , when the young Lord bowed before her and stated in no uncertain terms:

"I'm sorry!"

Asuka blinked, and thanked her lucky stars that neither Shinji nor anyone else could see the way her mouth was flapping up and down at the time.

Still, she wasted no time in jumping at the offered opportunity.

"Of course you're sorry! It was _your_ fault to begin with! What kind of creep sneaks into a woman's room like that? Couldn't you have asked to pick the books up while I was inside, or something?"

Taken aback by the redhead's sudden vehemence, the young man quickly rose up once more and took a step back.

"...I guess, but..."

"But what?!"

Shinji scratched the back of his head nervously.

"...You were... uncomfortable during the meeting yesterday. So I didn't want to be a bother."

"...You didn't want to be a bother," Asuka quoted, sceptically. "You do know that doesn't make what you did any better, do you?"

"I-I know, it was a very bad idea. Sorry."

 _'...Is this guy for real? Sorry this and sorry that, does he know how to say_ anything _else?'_

"At least you realise that," Asuka pushed away the topic as much as she could and focused on what she could do to get the boy out of her room. Quickly. "Whatever, let's just get you your books so that you can leave, already!"

Shinji hurriedly agreed, tripping over his own words as he did, and the both of them got to work in finding the scattered tomes laying about the room.

It didn't take Asuka long to find three of the books, which added to the one Shinji had found and the other that lay on top of the bed, made five. However, and according to both the young man and the empty spots in the bookshelf, one still remained unaccounted for.

The sixth would appear soon enough, Asuka reasoned, pausing for a bit to take a look at the books in her hands. Ikari could handle that much by himself, right?

" _'Defence of Poesie'_ , ' _Leadership and the Sea', 'Imperial Battle Manual'_..." Asuka read and recognized the titles of the books in her hands. "Huh. I guess that settles it."

"Settle what?"

Asuka jumped a bit at Shinji intruding on her thoughts. The boy had moved closer to her, probably after noticing her intently staring at the covers; he was also missing the sixth book, which meant that her trust in him finding it had clearly been misplaced.

She took a step back and created some more distance between them. However, seeing the chance to move the topic on her thoughts further away from the events of a few minutes ago, Asuka wasted no time in viciously latching onto the new subject.

"That 'Sensei' of yours," she said, holding up one of the books. "He was an Imperial like me, wasn't he?"

"Sensei? Yes, he was," Shinji confirmed, his expression lightening up somewhat. "He never told me much about himself, but he shared that much."

"He didn't?" Asuka questioned, going back to looking for the last, elusive book. "What about his name? I might be able to give you a rough idea of where he was from based on that."

"...His name?"

"Yeah, his name. That title that's given onto people at birth so that they may properly function in society, you know?" Asuka paused in her searching for a moment and fixed the boy with a disbelieving look. "...Wait. Don't tell me you don't know."

"Umm... Sorry but... Sensei was always Sensei."

"...And you never thought about asking him."

At that, Shinji just shrugged, and Asuka felt a sudden and almost irresistible urge to palm her face.

She _might_ have had an inkling of doubt before, but it was clear by now that Shinji Ikari was a total doormat, and whoever thought he was fit for ruling _anything_ , much less _anyone_ , was clearly out of their mind.

The redhead threw the books in her hands on top of the bed and knelt down looking for a different angle, before she ended up getting in trouble by reflecting too much over how much _wrong_ there was in that line of thinking that Shinji Ikari seemed to be so fond of.

At least her efforts were mercifully rewarded with the sight of an out of place book below her bed.

 _'Finally, there it is! How the hell did it get under the stupid bed?!'_

Finally having located the slippery tome, Asuka got to work in retrieving it.

"Umm... Sohryu-san?" after only receiving a half-aware grunt in response, Shinji decided to continue. "You said that _'You knew my kind'_ earlier. What did you mean by that?"

Silence and a sudden pause in the redhead's movement were all the answers that Shinji received for a few seconds. That alone was enough evidence for the idea that he had just put his foot in his mouth to take form in his mind, but Asuka reappearing from under the bed in a show of barely restrained anger easily cleared whatever remaining doubts the boy might have had.

"That was something meaningless I blurted out and you'll forget about it if you know what's good for you, _Your Highness_."

"...O-Oh, right! S-Sorry..."

The young man seemed to retreat into himself after that, clearly embarrassed, which for some reason incensed Asuka just that little bit more. With a sigh of exasperation, the Imperial woman rose from the floor, grabbed hold of all the books on the bed, and headed towards Ikari with heavy steps.

"There you go, your books," the redhead handed over the manuscripts and crossed her arms, expectantly. "Kindly get out of my room now, _Your Highness_."

The young Lord nodded his assent but didn't move from his spot. Instead, he swallowed, probably far more loudly than he had intended.

"Y-Yeah, of course. It's just..."

"...What now?"

"Huh... Sohryu-san? D-Did I do something to upset you?" Shinji questioned, needlessly balancing the books in his arms so as to not directly look at Asuka. "...Other than the obvious?"

The redhead looked at the struggling young man and felt a familiar, small tug at her heartstrings, just the same kind that always seemed to pop up whenever she got mad at Maisie.

And it wasn't really hard to rationalize why, either. Because Shinji Ikari might have been taller than her but, irritatingly enough, Asuka couldn't help but feel like she was kicking a lost puppy at the moment.

Probably a consequence of him looking so damn childish.

She sighed and tried to get the lingering anger out of her system; in spite of his out of place question, _that_ hadn't been Ikari's fault, after all.

"...No, you didn't. I just don't like nobles on principle, that's all. I sort of overreacted yesterday, though." The redhead made a face and showed signs of continuing, before falling silent again. After a few moments of quiet debate, she spoke once again, much more quietly than before. "And... I guess I shouldn't have attacked you like that before, either. Old habits die hard, you know?"

"Oh. I-It's fine, don't worry about it. You're right when you say that I shouldn't have come in while no one was inside, after all," Shinji shrugged in a failed attempt at aloofness and chuckled nervously. "Rei will give me an earful if she hears about this too, so..."

"She will, huh? Well, I can help with that," Asuka shrugged and held out a hand before her. "You keep my slip-up to yourself and I'll do the same with yours, deal?"

Shinji stared at the extended appendage in much the same way that Hikari had done the previous day, before he understood the meaning and smiled a small smile.

"Deal," the young man gripped Asuka's hand and the redhead had to keep a surprised wince from showing on her face at the strength of his grip. None the wiser to the other's bewilderment, Shinji continued. "Oh, ahm... One more thing, Sohryu-san."

"What's that?"

"I..." the raven-haired boy averted his eyes to the side, apparently finding one of the paintings on the wall of sudden and incredible interest. "I would like to further speak with you some time, if possible."

Not directly looking at Asuka didn't seem to stop his body from visibly reacting at the inquisitive glare immediately sent in his direction, though.

"...What for?"

"N-Nothing much! It's just that... Sensei used to tell me all kinds of amazing things about the heart of the Empire before he left. The arts, the culture, the politics, the battles... I was most interested in the first two, but all of them were equally amazing. I-I was hoping that you could share your own view over some tea?"

The staring and sweating continued for a few moments longer, as the young woman worked hard to verify the truthfulness behind Shinji's words. Eventually, and after forcing Ikari to yield enough liquid to fill a pair of medium-sized buckets, Asuka shrugged and allowed her expression to relax, having ascertained that no nefarious plots seemed to be afoot.

"Talk over tea, huh? Well, if that means getting out of Katsuragi pulling a repeat of today tomorrow or whenever, sure, I don't mind," the redhead signalled towards the bookshelf with her head. "I don't know if I can tell you much that your previous Sensei didn't, though."

"Don't worry," Shinji turned back and smiled in relief at the answer, a little bit bigger this time. "A-Anything you can tell me will be helpful."

"Okay, that's good to know, then," the redhead directed a deadpan look downwards. "...Can you let go of my hand now?"

"Huh?" Ikari copied the girl's movement and quickly let go, as if the appendage had suddenly caught on fire. "O-Oh! S-Sure!"

Another litany of apologies soon followed, much to Asuka's annoyance.

She was aware that the Yamese were apparently very fond of being respectful and keeping up appearances, always worrying about what the people around would think or say, but Asuka had the feeling that Shinji Ikari was a different beast altogether in regards to just how much he apologized.

Hell, how many had they been? Four times he had uttered _'I'm sorry'_ in the short time they'd spoken? It was almost as if he were compensating, or something.

Eventually, though, she finally managed to hand the books to the flustered boy and pretty much shove him out the door with a brief word of good night, on the pretext that her body demanded sleep and he wasn't supposed to be within her room in the first place.

And so, Asuka slid the door closed and leant against it, signalling to the world that she was completely and unquestionably unavailable until she woke up next morning. She didn't care if her old nemesis decided to reappear once more and start raging havoc in Akuro, or if freaking dragons came out of nowhere and torched the place, she was sleeping and _that was that._

 _'Damn. Just like yesterday,_ way _too much damn stuff for just one day. This place's going to kill me before long if every day ends up the same.'_

Asuka went through the room and blew out the lights, before dropping herself on top of her bed and allowing her tired body to shut down in time with her eyes. It wasn't long before her thoughts drifted to the latest in the bizarre chain of events that had followed her through her time in Akuro, and the epiphany that had come out of it.

"...I guess Ikari really _is_ harmless, huh?" Asuka sighed, suddenly having a hard time putting many of the labels she had used on the boy the day before. "A noble that's actually a decent person? He's still a pervert, but anyway: who'd have thought?"

 _ **"Told you so."**_

The childish voice that invaded her thoughts was also slightly unwelcome at this point.

"...Shut up, Maisie. Ever heard about being humble in victory?"

 _ **"Not from you I didn't."**_

"...You sure are sassy today," the redhead rolled her eyes with a scoff. " _Fine_ , you were right. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that. Happy?"

 _ **"Very. Just be sure not to forget your promise to**_ **her** _ **when you next speak to Shinji, okay?"**_

"...Her?" Asuka questioned, wondering for a moment just who it was that her friend was talking about. "Oh, Blue. Yeah, yeah, I already dodged a bad hit today and don't feel like testing my luck anymore; I'll be a good girl."

 _ **"I know, Asuka,"**_ Maisie giggled childishly. _ **"I'm looking forward to it!"**_

And Asuka had to admit, she echoed Maisie's sentiment to a certain extent, although probably for very different reasons. She didn't have a lot of faith in Shinji proving to be the best company to have around these parts, but she could definitely use any and all opportunities to patch up the ripples that her entrance into Akuro had caused. For that purpose, buttering up Ikari to a certain extent was a welcome idea.

Besides, if having Hikari on her side was already good, managing to enlist the actual regent of the place was bound to be _phenomenal_. At the very least, he should prove to be a decent-ish wall to use against Blue, should the girl end up getting any weird ideas in the future.

Yeah, all things considered, Asuka was actually looking forward to that silly tea party as well.

...

Just the slightest little bit.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's a wrap for Chapter 4. The next big update will probably take a while still, but I'd like to ask a question to the followers of the story while I'm on that topic: Since chapter length is (knowing me) probably going to stay in the region of 15k words or more, I wanted to find out whether my readers like the current split-chapter format with more frequent updates, or if they'd prefer full chapter updates that take longer to come out.

I'll probably end up fusing past split chapters at some point anyway, but I think that's a question that should be resolved moving forward. Any input on that will be appreciated.

In any case, I'll see you guys next time.


	8. Interlude 1 - Mathias Leitner

Esteemed Director,

The latest report from Interrogator _ has just arrived, and his co_sions are as definite as I feared: we have indeed _ a traitor towards our cause for the longest time.

Mathias Leitner, one of the head _ers in charge of our defence projects, has caved under interrogation and revealed himself to _ working for the _lic's Central Inte_nce A_ncy. _ fell upon Mr. Leitner in the wake of a failed attempt to hack a terminal above his security clearance. Following this _, several pieces of i_nat_ng eviden_ both on his person and in his quarters, as well as within several other hidden caches; Mr. Leitn_mediately apprehended.

It is as of yet unknown for how long the p_ship _een Mr. Leitner and the C_ has existed, or the extent or importance of the leaked information. Ne_he_ss, measur_ underway to avoid a repeat of this i_ident, and we are in the p_ocess of co_ing a pers_nel sweep for any add_onal moles.

The request to demote Mr. Leitner to Per_nnel _l F has also arrived at my desk, pending my _oval. I want for you t_ be aw_re that my pers_l ties to Mr. Leitner, or B-1376 as he is to be known f_m now on, will not interfere with the fulfilment and improvement of my duties.

 _M_ we a_l r_ch His magnif_nce, a_d may we _nd as equ_ls, by _._

Aria-Mira_le _rant,

Hea_ of the I_llig_ce Di_sion.

-]LotF[-

 **LAB REPO_ FOR PR_CT _ / 23rd OF AZARIA _**

 **PROJECT LEAD:** DR. LI_AN AN_R.

 **RESO_ES:** MODIFIED _PLE TYPE-GAMMA; SU_ECT B-1376.

 **EXPER_ENT R_SULT:** FAILURE. SUBJECT P_ERV_D IN COLD S_AGE FOR F_TURE NE_D.

 **A_NOTA_ONS:**

The e_iment p_gr_sed adequately up until the insertion of the _erial, as usual. Also as usual, the _ended contact between the t_o resu_d in [REDACTED] _d [REDACTED]. It is _ that so_hing will need to be done _out the [REDACTED] i_ we ever hope to clear this _rrier and, as such, I r_qu_t permission to access some of the res_ts my pr_v_us te_m produced. Some of my colleagues have theorized that [REDACTED] _s_ue might _ a st_i_ng ag_nt, and _ this theory to w_ran_ s_me study.

As one of t_e fe_ subjects to have _ process (in a sense), I h_v_ deci_d to p_se_e B-1376 in cold s_o_ge for a_y necessary future stu_y, under BETA l_el s_uri_y cle_nce. I re_e t_at we a_e short on s_e space as it is and that the su_iv_rs of these processes _, but I u_ge the D_re_or to please i_ulg_ th_s need of m_e, in the _ of t_e pr_ect's contin_ adv_cement.

 _May we all reach His ma_ificence, a_d may we s_nd as equals, by _ side._

-]LotF[-

The grizzled man sighs as he allows one of the contraptions that has taken over every free moment of his life to quietly shut off. He has come a long way from his initial and timid attempts at communing with the machine and, without any intent to brag, already considers himself quite the expert in many of the strings of words or actions necessary for the vaults of information to cede their zealously guarded contents, as some of his most recent findings no doubt demonstrate.

He only wishes that a lot of them were something more than garbled nonsense, even if the few intact notes he has managed to recover also make a part of him wish he had never gotten involved in this mess to begin with.

His eyes fall upon a hand-scribbled note he had found preserved between the pages of an almost completely degraded book. A note with a message that didn't make any sense to him at the time, but that has found a new meaning after the day's investigation.

The grizzled man pinches his eyes and offers a silent prayer, before shaking his head and walking out of the room, back to where he will soon be needed.

But before he goes and allows the room to fall back into darkness, the contents of the long-forgotten note are clearly visible for a short time:

 _Rest in peace, Matt._

 _They'll pay for this._


	9. Into the Darkness

Asuka passed her hand over the engravings of the metal plate on her left arm and smiled. She'd probably done that about a hundred times by now, but to be honest, she couldn't care less. It felt _great_ to have her trusty arms with her once again, even if their usual lustre could only be properly appreciated by touch alone down in the precariously illuminated mineshafts.

Satsuma, the old man that Katsuragi had mentioned, had done a pretty good job of restoring them, all things considered. The engraved steel head of the axe looked brand new, and the shield had shone like the first day, back at the surface, even if the re-colouring of the affected parts was a bit off and lacking in intensity; still, she would cut the blacksmith some slack, considering how much he'd had to rush to have the weapons ready for the day.

Here was to hoping that the protective coating against the acid would indeed work as well as Misato claimed. Asuka wasn't looking forward to having to re-forge her weapons, after all, and she imagined that the old man wouldn't want to see them back so soon after his work was done, either.

The young woman was about to enjoy the feeling of brand-new decorated metal brushing against her fingers once more, when a frosty voice that wasn't meant to be there with her in the first place interrupted her fun.

"May you please stop doing that, Sohryu-san? You are unnerving me."

"I could, I guess," Asuka shrugged dismissively. "But I don't really feel like it."

In time with her words, the redhead cheekily passed her fingers along the surface of the shield one more time. She then threw a look at the blue-haired girl beside her, clearly fishing for a reaction, and was pleased to find Rei narrowing her eyes in aggravation.

The girl's white and black robes, heavier and more sturdy-looking than the kimono Asuka had seen on Rei until that day, were fairly easy to spot amidst the torch-illuminated passage. The glint of three emeralds attached to lavish-looking jewellery on the bluenette's neck and ring fingers also helped on that matter.

The redhead rolled her eyes at the sight.

The rational part of Asuka's brain reasoned that the emeralds were probably used as some sort of focus for the wind magic Rei had mentioned in their last conversation, but a fairly sizable part of her couldn't help but feel irritated at such flagrant flaunting of opulence.

After all, there was bound to be a way of making those foci out of something _other_ than precious stones, right?

"Don't look at me like that, Miss 'I'm also part of the Watchers'," Asuka glared back, her words taunting and full of disdain. "You forewent your status to force your way into this mission, so our agreement is void until you go back to it."

She hid it well, but Asuka's ears barely managed to catch the sound of the bluenette hissing through clenched teeth in aggravation.

The Imperial mentally patted herself for a job well done and promptly went back to smugly checking the way ahead.

"You certainly seem to be enjoying that fact an awful lot."

"Well, if I'm going to be forced to look after a rookie with no combat experience and delusions of grandeur, I sure as hell am not going to kiss your ass while I'm at it."

"I do not recall ever asking for your aid, Sohryu-san. I can look after myself just fine," Rei responded bitingly, in her usual collected manner. She then added another remark under her breath, clearly meant for her own ears only. "And you may as well cease your unfounded bragging, too. You could really try the patience of a stone."

But unfortunately, loud enough for the redhead to still catch most of it.

"What was that?!"

Asuka turned around to face the bluenette while she made herself as big and imposing as possible, looking to intimidate her. Much to her hidden surprise, however, Rei responded in kind, refusing to back down.

Both young women locked onto each other from opposite sides of the pathway, interrupting the advance of the small group they were part of and leaving the remaining members without a clue of how to solve the sudden conflict.

With no volunteers looking to risk life and limb by getting in between Asuka and Rei, it looked like things would soon escalate even further...

...when a pair of armoured gloves simultaneously bonked both of their heads, making the two girls yelp and break off the stare-down in a mixture of pain and surprise.

"Can the two of you keep it down?!" Misato hissed, having somehow quickly moved all the way down from the head group without making a sound. "We're in enemy territory, remember? Leave the silly bickering for after we're done."

The young Lady's mouth hung slightly open in surprise before she lowered her eyes, ashamed, while a quick flash of anger passed through the redhead's expression. They both did as instructed, however, with Asuka deciding to further break things off by continuing onward after throwing one last pointed look at Rei.

" _Fine_ , I'll go on and take your place in the head group, Katsuragi. At least that blockhead Suzuhara doesn't need babysitting." It wasn't long before the figure of the Imperial girl was lost to one of the many twists and turns. Her enraged grumbling was still fairly audible, though. "Tch. 'Unfounded bragging' my ass. Freaking amateurs going over their heads..."

Some off-colour muttering broke among a few of the soldiers in time with Asuka's departure (a common occurrence ever since the big news had broke out in Akuro), but a severe look on Misato's part promptly got things back in working order. A few quick commands later, and the rearguard of the assault team was on the move once again, fully focused on their mission.

They marched as such for a few moments, with only the crackling of the torches and the exchange of some small words of encouragement filling the otherwise deathly silence, until Rei quietly spoke to the woman beside her.

"Thank you for before, Captain. I'm sorry for losing my composure like that."

"Don't sweat it, Rei, that girl can get under anyone's skin. Just don't do it again," the violet-haired woman's voice gained a hint of sternness before she continued. "Her usual manners aside, though, she _is_ right this time."

"...You too, Katsuragi-san?"

"I made no secret of my opposition before, Rei-chan," Misato shrugged casually, always making sure to keep an eye out for danger. "I mean, yeah, I know you can pull off some nice tricks, but there's a world of difference between doing that in a controlled environment and on the battlefield. And what am I supposed to say to either of your parents if something happens to you? I'm supposed to be looking after you and Shinji, and you pulling rank like that to get your way only undermines my efforts, kiddo."

"I'm aware that forcing myself like that wasn't the most elegant of outcomes, Captain, but I cannot say I lament my decision," out of the corner of her eye, Misato saw one of Rei's hands ball into a fist. "I could not just sit and do nothing after you told me about the food situation, and with no news of Mother and any kind of help having arrived in so long... Even if they know not of it, the fate of everyone in Akuro depends on us putting an end to this crisis, and sooner rather than later."

"I know that, but-"

"My abilities might be a far cry from Mother's, but I'm not helpless," the bluenette boldly interrupted. "I do not want to stay in the castle and be useless when I can actually make a difference. What purpose does my training serve if I'm forced to back down in the face of danger, just because of who I am?"

Rei wasn't sure about the kind of reaction that she'd been looking to elicit from Katsuragi, but the deadpan stare that she received had certainly not been in the plans.

"You ask that question to the scary lady that will have my head if some beastie ends up ruffling your hair. And about that other thing, trust me: I know _all_ about feeling useless. But _this_ isn't the way to go about fixing that, Rei." The Captain allowed a few seconds of silence to pass by and allow Rei the chance to take her words to heart, before the older woman sighed and shook her head. "In any case, and since there's no use in crying over spilled milk, at least promise me that you'll stay within arm's reach at all times, okay? Things have been calm so far, but I'm betting that it's not going to stay that way for much longer."

Her previous vehemence having fled to parts unknown, the bluenette compliantly replied in quiet contemplation.

"Yes, Captain."

-]LotF[-

"So... this is the place?"

"It does look like the hollow area that Misato-san mentioned. There are no more torches on the walls, either."

Hikari signalled with her finger towards the far away walls to clarify her observation. She then went back to tending to the sitting militia soldier in front of her, who had somehow managed to twist his ankle by falling the short distance between the end of the rope they'd set up, and the solid ground they were now standing on.

Asuka fought down the urge to palm her face at the scene for the umpteenth time. If that guy was part of 'the best and bravest' that the militia had to offer, this mission would have been doomed from the very beginning if not for her.

Still, as the Imperial woman watched her friend work, she had to admit, the magical talents that Hikari was displaying were nothing short of impressive. Her curative magic was apparently a completely separate discipline from that of Blue's, with a different set of rules and requisites that Asuka didn't give a damn about governing it, but it certainly looked _far_ more useful than keeping a ball in midair had been.

So much so, that the redhead had been wondering whether there would be a way of bringing the secret behind Hikari's talents back home, ever since the brunette had made a slightly nasty scratch on her arm simply disappearwithout a trace, the day before. The weird blue light had travelled from the blue jewel on top of Hikari's ornate staff (aquamarine, judging from its tint) to her wounded arm, and the next thing Asuka knew, there was nary a blemish on her skin.

Truly, the stuff would make the best Imperial medicos rage in disgrace. The only shortcoming Asuka had seen to Hikari's magic (and the brunette was loathe to call her abilities that, for some reason) was that ailments or conditions without a clear visual identification were pretty hard to fix, as had been the case with the hurting militiaman for quite some time already.

Time enough that, with Misato and the rearguard clearly running late, Asuka had decided it was about time she took matters into her own hands; she stood up from the rock that had served as her seat for the past ten minutes and briskly walked towards a random militiaman that looked particularly bored.

"You," Asuka ordered, tossing a torch towards the surprised man. "Grab this and follow me."

The man did as ordered, more out of fear of the redhead's infamous bouts of anger than any actual willingness to be compliant, and started to follow Asuka towards the only visible exit out of the chamber. The half-a-dozen other people watched in muted shock, obviously too inexperienced to act without their beloved Captain leading them every step of the way.

Or at least most of them did. Because Toji Suzuhara, in all his stupidity, decided to bar her path.

"Where in the Lady's name do you think you're going?!"

"I'm just going to have a little look-see while Katsuragi leads the rookie by the hand. I won't go far," Asuka pushed past the taller man as if he wasn't even there, taking her trusty axe into her hands. "You can stay here and twiddle your thumbs, or something."

"Yeah, no," Suzuhara hastily answered, taking the torch from the militiaman's hands. "I'll go with you. Or Lady knows what kind of mess you'll get us into."

" _Right_ ," the redhead scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Because the only person of this bunch that's an actual competent fighter is going to fuck up; and even if that were the case, _you_ are supposed to prevent anything? Now _that's_ rich," giggling with mirth at the ridiculous notion (and making Toji's face contort in rage), Asuka continued walking in the direction of the exit. "Whatever, suit yourself. Just don't slow me down, Meathead."

And then she stopped, suddenly remembering something.

"Oh, and before I forget," Asuka turned back around, glaring as she brandished her axe in two hands. "You lot are in charge of keeping Hikari safe while I'm not here. And if something happens to _her_ , you can bet _something's_ going to happen to _you_ as well. Have I made myself clear?"

Some of the gathered militia looked at each other and a few audible gulps issued from among them. To the redhead's disgust, it wasn't long before all of them were nodding dumbly in abject terror.

 _'And most of them are several years my seniors. This is pathetic.'_

An apprehensive voice abruptly cut short her unfavourable musings, bringing Asuka's eyes towards Hikari.

"A-Asuka-san! I don't think that-"

Ignoring the pigtailed girl's concerns with a smile, Asuka good-naturedly interrupted the girl.

"Don't worry, Hikari! We'll be back before you know it! Or at least _I_ will," the Imperial girl waved nonchalantly and then made the most of the motion by slapping Suzuhara in the back of the head. "Look alive, Meathead. Time's-a-wastin'!"

After that, it wasn't long before the two left for the exit and the light of their torch vanished into the darkness, and out of sight of a suddenly very worried young woman.

-]LotF[-

"Come on Meathead, move it! I know that putting one foot in front of the other is a difficult concept for you, but you can do better than this!"

Asuka waved the torch that she had confiscated from Toji in annoyance, illuminating the path behind her and showing the young man having serious trouble with squeezing through some of the narrower parts of a passage that had been steadily becoming less and less ample as they moved on.

"Annoying gaijin," Toji muttered through clenched teeth, trying as hard as he could to avoid further hitting his head against any pointy rocks. "You're lucky that you're not getting the same treatment your countrymen did!"

"Is that supposed to be a scary threat, Meathead?" the redhead responded, nonplussed. "You realise that you only 'won' that war because the Empire's entire military might didn't fall upon you, right? By virtue of being in the butt-end of nowhere? Not that I care about that, anyway. _I_ should be more than enough proof of the overall superiority of our training." Asuka glanced back again, and the proud look on her face was quickly replaced with what continued to be her prevailing expression for the day. "You coming or what?! Do I have to poke you with the blade of my axe for you to get a move on?!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming, you shrieking banshee!" Suzuhara shouted back, managing to dislodge his trapped foot with a mighty pull. "Dear Lady, you _really_ are the Red Devil..."

"What was that?" Asuka threw a glare over her shoulder at the one who's muttering she'd barely managed to catch. "Did I hear someone say 'Please kick my ass, Asuka'?" The taller man, now able to move freely for the moment, returned her glare but said nothing. "Thought so."

That was not to say that Toji Suzuhara was easily intimidated, though, but rather that he was sensible enough not to start a fight in what was unknown and very likely dangerous territory, in spite of the Imperial hypocrite's continued attacks against his intelligence.

He was not above verbally showing his disdain, however. Again, like another certain eyesore he could mention; he made no effort to disguise the anger in his voice as the two of them resumed their exploration.

"What's your hurry, anyway?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Asuka scoffed, turning her face just enough for her march forward to not be impeded. "I don't want to spend any more time than necessary in that excuse for a castle you people call home."

"Really? Far be it for me to wish that you continue tormenting us, gaijin, but I heard that you've been spending some time with Shinji lately."

"And where did you hear that?" The redhead questioned (even if she had a faceless suspect in mind, already), something about the way in which the boy had spoken giving her pause for the shortest of moments. "Bah, no matter. Like Ikari would be an argument for me to stay and waste more of my life here. He's got to be the most boring and submissive _boy_ I've ever met."

"I heard that you looked pretty willing. For you, anyway."

"Then your source needs to have their eyes and ears checked. I'm sure that my yawns must have been heard over by Tokyo, at the least."

"I sure value his word more than I do yours, Devil," Toji's previous strange tone morphed into a far more familiar harshness. "In any case, keep your distance from Shinji. The less of you that he sees the better."

"Ha! Still throwing empty threats around, are we?" Asuka answered, amused. "I'll do whatever the hell _I_ want, Meathead. Although you sure won't need to worry about me corrupting your _precious, little Lordling_. So long as I get a say in the matter, at least."

"Good," Suzuhara agreed gruffly. "No argument, there."

The two members of the vanguard continued on in silence, the taller one of the pair feeling incredibly thankful that the passages seemed to be widening little by little once again. His relief lasted about as long as it took Asuka to open her mouth once again, though.

"Oh, and thanks for confirming that the one checking my every move is a guy, Meathead. That should make singling him out and giving him a piece of my mind all that much easier."

Asuka didn't bother with turning around and checking for Toji's reaction, as the audible gulp that almost echoed through the caverns told her everything she needed to know; she smirked and pressed her pace further, ignoring the protests of her inadvertent informant.

They continued as such through the winding tunnels for quite some time, finding neither dead ends nor any trace of the evil that Misato had expected to find here, much to the redhead's chagrin. Onward they pressed on through the single path, however, in spite of Toji's reticence to continue on without the others.

Until Asuka suddenly stopped walking, nearly causing Toji to crash into her.

"Wait."

The young man did as commanded, more out of necessity than anything else, and barely managed to keep his balance by grabbing hold of the nearest wall. He sighed in aggravation, majorly ticked off by the redhead's constant orders and criticisms.

"What _now_?"

"This place's different from before."

"...Different? I see as many rocks as before, Devil."

"Do you pay _any_ attention to your surroundings, Stooge?!" Asuka angrily whirled around, pointing to the sides and the ground of the passage in succession. "The floor and walls are suddenly smoothed, and even tiled in some places!"

"Really?" The taller boy blinked, and turned his head to check the immediate area around his left hand. It didn't take him long to validate the redhead's words. "That doesn't sound natural."

"Well, _duh_. This is obviously man-made," the young woman ventured, passing a hand over the even surface of the wall. "And very freaking old, by the looks of it."

"What do you think this is?" Toji questioned, imitating the gesture and feeling the identical and monotone dirty tiles on his fingers. "It looks nothing like any crafted tiles I've seen."

Asuka whirled around once more and fixed him with an exasperated glare.

"And how the hell am I supposed to know? Care to explain that?" The young woman shook her head and angrily stomped her way forward. "On second thought, don't. I don't want to be exposed to the idiotic notions that populate your brain. They might be contagious."

Asuka ignored the indignant and very loud shouts that followed her claim, and focused on delving deeper into the mystery at hand.

It didn't take more than a few metres and a sharp turn for the claustrophobic chain of tunnels to suddenly give way to a wide and surprisingly expansive room. The chamber's symmetry and the sharp angles of the corners, along with the visible presence of many more tiles on the floor and walls, further reinforced its artificial nature.

"Well, that settles it," the redhead whistled in appreciation, waving her torch around in every direction and trying to take in as much as possible. "Certainly man-made."

Eager to take a better look at the entirety of their discovery (and completely ignoring Toji's dissenting voice), Asuka smiled widely and confidently strode forward...

...And then promptly dropped the torch onto the ground as a series of sudden glares assaulted her eyes, forcing them shut. Asuka instinctively reached out for the handle of her axe and entered a defensive posture but, thankfully, such deeply ingrained caution proved to be unnecessary.

When the two young explorers managed to blink the unforeseen white flashes away, they were treated to yet another surprising development: several glass panes on the walls and roof, similar to the ones that were used to house the flame of an oil lantern, had come alive and started to cast a blazing white light inside of the chamber, fully illuminating it down to its furthest corners and allowing the two awe-struck teens unobstructed vision.

"...Light without fire?" Asuka whispered in disbelief, carefully allowing her body to relax. "What the hell is this place?"

"Maybe- Maybe there are torches inside of the walls and roof?"

"Fire doesn't give out this kind of light, idiot, it's way too pale for that," the young woman corrected, her usual bite completely absent from her words. "This must be something else entirely."

Opposite to the narrow tunnel that had served as their entrance, Asuka and Toji could spy some sort of weird door that seemed to be made out of metal, full of coloured lines in red and yellow and what looked like inscriptions of some kind. Those extended out of the door and into the long wall that housed it, all the way to the edge of the corners.

Off to the right side of the fabricated cave stood what looked like a small monument: it was an onyx black that clashed heavily with the light hues of whites and greys that the walls and the lighting provided. Curved and of elaborated design, the pedestal look-alike's main feature was a fairly big and dust-covered orb that was held aloft by what seemed to be two pairs of carved, slim hands.

"...Wow," Asuka breathed as she finished taking a look at the view on display. "Katsuragi might have been onto something with her hunch, after all, but I bet she won't be expecting this, either."

"Speaking of," Toji spoke up, his voice sounding slightly unnerved. "Shouldn't we probably think about heading back?"

"What for? There was only one path all the way down here. Katsuragi and the others will arrive eventually."

"Yeah, well... But-"

"But what? I thought that you wouldn't want to deal with the narrow tunnels again, but be my guest and leave me to investigate in peace if you're so worried about the others," Asuka turned to look at the well-built man with a knowing smirk. "Or are you _scared,_ Meathead?"

The reaction that the young mercenary expected didn't take long to materialize.

"Me? Scared?" Toji snorted, making the idea sound like an utter impossibility. "Hah!"

" _Right_. Then be a good boy and take a look over there," Asuka loosely signalled to the left side of the room, while starting to head in the opposite direction. "I'll comb that area myself later, but maybe you'll find something interesting by some miracle."

It didn't take long for the redhead to find herself in front of her side of the room's most striking feature: the obsidian statue was far more elaborate than she had initially given it credit for from afar, with plenty of minutia readily apparent on both the sculpted hands and the main base. It was also in surprisingly good condition, albeit very dirty, considering her previous theories about the antiquity of the place.

Now feeling even more curious about this finding, she was about to get a feel for the strange decoration's surface when her annoying companion spoke tensely from the centre of the room, the very spot from which he had still not moved.

"...I don't mind looking, but touching any of the stuff in here without the others doesn't sound like a smart idea."

Rolling her eyes at both the interruption and Toji's previous attempts at bravado, Asuka scoffed at the boy's _ideas_.

" _Smart_? And what would you know about that?"

Ignoring the taller man for the umpteenth time that day, the redhead strode forward and started to clear the dust away from the strange decoration. She did so in slow and thorough movements, both to clean as much of the grime as possible and to see if there would be some sort of reaction from the statue.

Nothing happened.

"See? Nothing! Thought an _evil, evil,_ spirit was going to come out, or something?" Asuka taunted, confidently palming her hand on top of the orb a few more times to prove her point, before finally resting it on top of the ancient, smooth surface. "It's because of stupid superstitions like those that-"

Asuka cut her taunting short at the sound of a quiet hum from beside her. The young woman turned her attention back to the orb just in time to see a faint, golden light fade from within.

"...What the-?"

 _ **UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED AT TRANSFER POINT BETA. DEPLOYING AVAILABLE SECURITY SYSTEMS.**_

A distant hiss and a sudden crash followed the unexpected booming of a female voice, and Asuka jumped away from the obsidian sculpture as if it had caught on fire. Adding to the weirdness, a faint red light started to shine from somewhere above the strange door, rotating clockwise.

The two of them stared in muted shock as a pair of hatches opened up from where there had only been smooth wall a moment before, framing the strange door. A silvery lump of metal lay within the well-illuminated rightmost opening, twitching and trembling slightly as it let out weird whirring noises, but apparently incapable of anything more than that.

"...The hell is that?" Asuka wondered, her mouth veritably hanging down in amazement.

"...What was that about stupid superstitions?"

Too busy being astonished, the redhead dedicated the barest of responses for Toji's sarcastic and rattled remark.

"Shut up."

Asuka broke away from her companion and made to move closer to the fallen object, but a second and more intense whirring noise stopped her dead in her tracks. She brought her gaze to the leftmost opening just as something emerged from the dark inside.

It was a humanoid thing, lanky and with long extremities that very much resembled a human's, except for the addition of two weird plates jutting upwards from of its shoulders. It was armoured in all places in form-fitting metal, and the ashen hue of what Asuka surmised was some sort of decaying steel that had certainly seen better days offered no look at whatever lay below.

Not that either of the two would have paid it any mind even if that were not the case. Their eyes were instead drawn towards the red lights that shone within the cavities that would have held the eyes, and that completed the ensemble on what many a preacher would have instantly considered a demonic visage.

And much to her chagrin, Asuka would have been inclined to agree. Whatever this thing was, it gave her chills just by looking at it. And she wasn't one to scare easily.

That feeling intensified tenfold when one of the shoulder plates opened up and revealed a hollow interior, from which the sudden arrival took a very basic-looking knife. The thing held the weapon in front of it for a moment, before slowly and jerkily starting to move towards them.

Needing no further clue to guess where the situation was leading to, Asuka and Toji readied their weapons.

"Well, whatever it is, it sure doesn't look like it wants to be friends."

"You're a freaking _genius_ , you know that?"

-]LotF[-

The sound of hooves hitting against stone filled the air as three snow-white pegasi slowly trotted to a stop on the highest terrace of Akuro castle. At the order of their masters, the proud beasts folded their wings and allowed their passengers safe transition into solid ground.

After all five people had dismounted, the leading knight patted her mount on the hind legs and wordlessly commanded it to stay put until further order. Obediently, the three pegasi did as they were told and laid down to rest in a corner of the wide roof, to the satisfied and somewhat proud look of the lightly armoured auburn-haired girl.

"Thank you, Kirishima-san," the only unarmoured woman in the group, a brunette in her early forties, smiled at the young girl that had brought her home. "Your generosity has saved us many days of hard travel."

Mana Kirishima, recently inducted member of the Imperial Skyguard, smiled back and bowed respectfully, her short hair bobbing slightly as she did so.

"It was our pleasure, Lady Yui."

"Please, rise," Yui Ikari politely requested, putting a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "I thought I told you that protocol was unnecessary, Kirishima-san."

The young brunette graciously stepped backwards and rose back, shaking her head lightly.

"I appreciate your offer, but I couldn't possibly, my Lady. It would reflect badly on my unit if I did."

"My, you are truly as polite as they come, dear." The Lady chuckled in good-humoured amusement before she noticed the young knight squirming in place. Her laughter abruptly stopped, and was swiftly substituted by curious concern. "Is something wrong?"

Mana, for her part, jumped slightly at the unexpected question. Her fidgeting tripled in intensity as she clearly inwardly debated about something, to the point where the tanned boy a few steps away from her (Musashi, if she recalled correctly) started to look at her oddly.

Suddenly, the auburn-haired girl stopped. And then bowed harder and further than she'd had before.

"I-I'm sorry!"

"What for, child?" Yui blinked in incomprehension, before one possible reason for the girl's actions came to mind. "Oh, I see. You're still thinking about Tokyo's refusal for reinforcements, aren't you?" the girl peeked upwards from her lowered position and found the elder woman smiling at her. "Worry not. It is not your fault that tensions are mounting within the country. I may not like it, but it is reasonable for the Empress to not be willing to part with any of her forces in light of the current political landscape."

"But it's just that!" Mana vehemently declared, rising to her full height for the second time. "The Skyguard's supposed to be a bastion of justice, a hand for anyone in Yamato that's in need of help! I can't believe that we weren't allowed to come aid your people, my Lady. It goes against everything I've been taught!"

"Politics are like that, Kirishima-san. The Skyguard leveraged as hard as it could, and it was clear to see that Captain Yayoi didn't like the result of her efforts. Neither of you have anything to be ashamed of."

Mana listened attentively, before letting her gaze fall to the ground and grabbing her left shoulder with her right hand, massaging it in what Yui had grown to identify as a habit of the girl's whenever she went into deep thought; she remained as such for a few moments, turning Yui's words around in her head, until she let out a deep sigh.

"I wish that I could believe your words, but thank you anyway, Lady Yui. You're too kind."

"And you are too hard on yourself, just like my dearest daughter," Yui commented, her ever-present smile never leaving her face. "That's not a bad thing, however. I can see the makings of a great leader, someday. Don't you think so, Ko-chan?"

The elder Ikari's question was met with no answer. Puzzled, she scanned her eyes all over the terrace, until she found her faithful vassal staring at the ground below over the veranda, silent and unmoving.

"...Ko-chan?"

No doubt as unnerved as the rest of them by how out of character the woman was acting, the third member of Mana's squad, a kind and somewhat quiet boy by name of Keita Asari, hurried to find out if everything was all right.

...

Just in time to nearly have his boots covered with half-digested breakfast.

"Dear Lady, Ko-chan! Are you all right?" Yui anxiously exclaimed, just as Keita hurried to the side of the unhealthy woman. "I thought that you would have gotten used to pegasus riding by now!"

Coughing and gagging were most of the response that she got, with the exception of an extended hand requesting Yui stay put when she started moving forward.

Eventually, Kodama Horaki, age 22 and eldest daughter of the Horaki family, managed to still her symptoms and heavy breathing enough to look back at her liege and pronounce two words:

" _Never. Again._ "

Before falling once more into a second round of heaving and dry retching. Meanwhile, Keita massaged her back in an attempt to alleviate her sickness with a serene smile, while trying his hardest not to look at the mess on the floor.

Quickly averting her eyes from the brunette's sorry sight, Mana threw a chastising look towards the third integrant of her team.

"Maybe I should have been the one to carry Horaki-san, instead of Musashi."

The dark-haired boy narrowed his eyes and returned the look, crossing his arms around his chest.

"Hey, I kept him as stable as he would go, it's just that she's not built for flying. I mean, half the time she was holding onto me so hard that I could barely breathe!"

A curious eyebrow rose above its twin, and Mana's disapproving look turned teasing.

"You don't sound too upset about that."

At that, the young man closed his eyes before sighing dreamily, a contented smile growing on his face. Then, he shrugged nonchalantly and went back to keeping an eye on the pegasi.

Seeing a chance for some good-natured ribbing, Mana was about to probe her comrade a little bit more when a boyish voice caught her attention.

"Mother! You're back!"

"Shinji!" the elder Ikari exclaimed, her smile somehow becoming even wider. "Dear Lady, how I've missed you. Have you grown taller?"

"I don't think so," the well-dressed young man walked briskly until he stood in front of Yui, every one of his movements being intently followed by a pair of lightly-coloured eyes. "I'm glad to see you back again."

"And I have a hard time believing that," Yui responded in mock indignation. "What is this? No hug for your mother, dear?"

The young man's eyes widened at the light criticism and his cheeks reddened just the slightest bit, his gaze quickly travelling over all of the people present at the terrace.

"I-It's not that. It's just..."

"Oh, I see. This child of mine, so hesitant to show his affection in public..." The older brunette turned to speak to the young woman beside her. "Such a thing should never happen between mother and son, don't you think so, Kirishima-san? I wonder where it is that I went wrong..."

Mana perked up at the mention of her name, but still needed a moment to fully realize that, yes, she had indeed been asked a question. She was quick to rally her thoughts once her brain caught up to the fact, though.

"Ah! Y-You're completely right, Ikari-dono!"

"Of course I am! See, Shinji? Even Kirishima-san agrees with me!"

The young man's embarrassed blush spread further in response.

"...Mooom..."

"I know, I know, Shinji. I'm just teasing!" Yui laughed merrily and waved her hands in front of her, dispelling most of Shinji's irritation almost instantly. It was then that she remembered that she was forgetting something important, and gestured to the three new arrivals In Akuro. "Oh, and meet Kirishima Mana-san, Keita Asari-san, and Musashi-san. They're three Skyguard knights that were kind enough to bring us back home."

Shinji's eyes lit up in at his mother's words, and he smiled in turn at the three of them while offering a small bow of thanks.

"Thank you very much." He said, his words and actions being answered by a duo of surprised looks...

...and an almost inaudible girlish squeal of delight.

Shinji blinked, rising and staring at Mana Kirishima. The young girl quickly turned in the other direction in response, suddenly finding her resting pegasus incredibly interesting.

The young man could swear that Mana's face was also slightly redder than it had been before, but wisely decided to make no comment on it. His recent conversations with a certain fiery typhoon had quickly ingrained in him the perils of blindly mentioning that sort of thing, after all.

Instead, he shrugged and then turned back towards his mother, with the question he had been wanting to ask from the very beginning hanging from his lips.

"...How did the negotiations go?"

At that, Yui's face fell slightly from the happy expression she had been donning, her voice taking on a more serious tone.

"Not so well, I'm afraid. We are on our own."

Shinji mimicked his mother's expression at the news.

"Oh."

"But don't worry, Shinji, everything will be all right. I may not have been able to secure soldiers, but I didn't come back completely empty-handed." The elder Ikari reassured her son and regent; her efforts were somewhat lacking in effect, much to her chagrin. She was about to elaborate on her reasons when she felt sluggish footsteps approach her position. Very much expecting who it could be, Yui turned towards the source of the noise. "Oh, Ko-chan! Feeling better now?"

Kodama Horaki's lips curved slightly upwards and she nodded her head a little, the fringe of her hair sticking to a forehead wet with sweat; she really looked miserable, much to Shinji's surprise, the otherwise beautiful woman's chocolate eyes having lost some of their usual shine and her smooth face (lacking in her younger sister's distinctive freckles) looking pale and sickly.

To her credit, though, Misato's right hand woman (and drinking buddy) still managed to pull off a pretty sweet smile.

"Yes, my Lady. Thank you for your concern," Kodama turned towards the younger Ikari and bowed respectfully, the brown hair in her long ponytail following her movement as well as it was able. "Good day, Shinji-kun. I'm sorry for not greeting you properly before, but I wasn't feeling all that great. Pegasi and I don't go together all that well, it looks like," the eldest of the Horaki sisters rose back up and looked around, searching for someone that wasn't there. "Where's Rei-chan? And Misato, for that matter. I kinda expected the both of them to be on top of you, to be honest."

"They're on patrol," Shinji responded, returning the older woman's smile with one of his own. "Misato-san took about fifteen men and left early today. Rei volunteered to go as well."

"Odd," Yui interjected, puzzlement on her voice. "The Captain has never taken that many people out of the castle on patrol before, has she?"

"No," her son confirmed with a shake of his head. "But she mentioned going deeper into the woods today and wanting to be extra-sure that nothing would happen to Rei."

The elder Ikari's eyes narrowed in thought at the information and she remained quiet for a few moments, index finger drumming against her right thigh and eliciting curious stares from both her son and Kodama. Eventually, though, the woman produced a throaty sound of agreement, and seemed to focus her mind on different worries.

"...I see. That sounds reasonable. I guess that we should trust the Captain with properly carrying on her duties," Yui turned towards her sickly looking vassal, her expression looking somewhat worried. "In any case, you should probably get some food and rest, Ko-chan. And on that note," she then moved to speak to the three pegasus riders that she had unintentionally ignored for the moment. "May Akuro offer the three of you some food, drinks and rest as well? It's the least we can offer you for your generous services."

Musashi was the first to respond, shaking his head with a grateful expression and signalling towards the resting pegasi.

"It's all right, Ikari-dono. We have to get-"

His words, however, were bluntly and impolitely interrupted by an excited girl with very different ideas.

"Of course, Lady Yui!" Kirishima eagerly agreed with a grin that threatened to split her face in half. "I'm starving!"

"What?! But Mana!"

The auburn-haired girl carelessly dismissed Musashi's opposition with a wave of her arm, not even looking in the boy's direction.

"It'll be fine, it'll be fine! Can't fly on an empty stomach, after all!" Instead, she stepped forward and entered far within Shinji's personal space, flashing him the sweetest smile she could muster. "Would you like to join us, Shinji-dono? I've heard _all_ kinds of _amazing_ things about Akuro!"

"Oh, emm..." The raven-haired boy took a step backwards in equal parts surprise and sudden shyness, only for Kirishima to quickly and confidently close the distance once more. Feeling familiarly cornered into an uncomfortable situation with no easy answer, Shinji fell back on usual habits and went with the flow of things. "S-Sure. I-I'd be glad to."

"Great! Why don't we go on ahead, then?" The young girl cheerfully exclaimed, grabbing Shinji's wrist and not-quite-forcefully dragging him along towards the stairs out of the terrace. Also in stark similarity to someone else he could mention, the boy's weak protests went completely ignored by Mana. "Keita, Musashi! Don't dawdle or you'll be left behind!"

Forsaken and ignored, both young men silently stared at the retreating and hyper-active form of their squadron leader, before slowly turning to share a look once she and her prey completely disappeared from their sights.

"...Oookay," Musashi slowly commented, bringing a hand to rub at his eyes. "That was fast."

Keita nodded his head, his serene smile not moving a single inch in either direction.

"It certainly looks that way."

"Seriously, what a troublesome girl..." the tanned boy growled in annoyance, before sighing helplessly. He then shrugged and offered the elder Ikari an apologetic look. "Oh well. I suppose we'll be having your generosity after all, Ikari-dono. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome," Yui replied, clearly amused with the unexpected turn the situation had taken. "Please eat as much as you need and recover energies for the journey back home."

"We'll do just that."

With that, Musashi and Keita hurried to catch up with their exceedingly enthusiastic leader, the tanned man speaking loudly and at length about the hardships that Mana's energetic ways always seemed to force them through. His companion smiled and nodded his head from time to time, clearly experienced in what was apparently a common occurrence within their little group.

Yui watched them intently until they left the terrace and then turned to speak to Kodama, who had not moved at all from the spot beside her.

"Aren't you going to go with them, Ko-chan? It will certainly do you good."

Her faithful vassal nodded her head, before giving her liege a knowing smile.

"I will, once I find out what it is that you suspect is going on with Misa-chan's... 'patrol'."

A surprised look crossed Yui's face for a moment, before her shock turned to amusement, and then graceful giggling.

"Nothing gets by you, does it, Kodama?"

"I'm afraid that I've learned your little tells all too well by now, my Lady," The younger brunette explained, raising her index finger and then slowly making a show out of tapping her thigh. She then shrugged and elaborated on her thoughts. "And besides, Misato's actions _are_ suspicious. There's little reason to go deep into the forest like she claimed, and much less reason to bring as many people as she did, so that's probably some bull that she fed Shinji in order to keep him from worrying."

Yui nodded her head in agreement with her vassal's logic.

"Which only leaves one possibility in my mind, really, but better to hear it from a proper source." The elder Ikari looked around her for a moment, not finding a trace of what she was looking for. She clicked her tongue in displeasure and called out loudly. " _Aida_!"

No sooner had she called out that a hand grabbed hold of the terrace's railing, before a young man draped in a dark cloak and a facemask pulled himself up from the outside. Nonplussed by his unusual entrance, both women stared patiently as the cloaked figure quickly folded a small grappling hook and stashed it somewhere within his clothes.

When he was done, the young man offered a gracious bow, his eyes, one of his few facial features that made it past the mask, twinkling with amusement.

"I thought that you'd never call, my Lady. I was literally hanging onto your every word!"

"Save the jokes, boy," Yui seriously and hastily replied with a narrowing of her eyes. "And tell me exactly where it is that Captain Katsuragi and Rei went off to."

-]LotF[-

Toji clicked his tongue and ducked under the slash of a knife going for his throat, after having his katana bounce off the body of the ashen guardian for the fifth time. He then allowed the rest of his body to follow his head in order to retreat a few steps out of range of the enemy weapon, giving himself some breathing space.

The red-eyed thing quickly recovered from striking air and locked itself onto Toji once more, putting the knife horizontally before it and starting to steadily advance in his direction just like the past several times.

It was clear by now in the boy's mind that what they were facing was some sort of animated armour, because its movements were just too jerky, measured and predictable for there to be anyone inside, regardless of their actual ferocity and strength. Besides, the impossibility of an actual person or whatever having been within the suit of armour for Lady knows how many years gave further credence to the idea of it being empty.

Although, to be honest, that wasn't exactly a calming thought, either; flesh and blood opponents he could take, no problem, but suits of armour brought to life via unexplainable means were a completely different matter altogether.

It also didn't help that the darn thing seemed to be quite taken with him.

"Devil!" he called out, irritated. "This ain't working!"

His redheaded companion replied from the armour's flank, the shaft of her axe resting against the ground and azure eyes intently watching from a few metres away.

"That's because you're going for the thickest parts of the armour with a toy sword, you idiot! Aim for the joints!"

"Easier said than done. As if you've had any better luck," Toji scoffed, recalling the strikes of the axe that had been shrugged off just as easily. He then narrowed his eyes in the girl's direction. "How about helping a little bit, by the way?!"

"Yeah, well. That's because unlike you, I don't _need_ luck," Asuka answered proudly, before tapping the side of her head with a finger. "And I _am_ helping, Stooge. Brute force's obviously not going to fix this situation so I'm using the one thing you don't have to try and do so."

"Really? I didn't know that bitchiness and egotism could be used in such a way."

"Har, har. You're _so_ funny, Meathead. And those are _two_ things, you moron," the young woman bit back caustically. "Why don't you shut up and keep it busy for a little bit more, before the big words start to hurt your poor, little head?"

Suzuhara grunted and refocused on the enemy at hand, far-away mutters of 'shrieking' and 'hurt my head enough' faintly reaching Asuka's ears. She ignored them in favour of concentrating on finding a vulnerability in their enemy, resolving to teach the bothersome boy his place later on.

After all, she was sure that Hikari would join her in such an effort after some... _embellishing_ of the facts. Why not allow her dear friend to partake in the fun?

Smirking evilly, Asuka followed the by now familiar movements of the ashen contraption for the sixth time: the armour approached Toji from the front until it reached striking distance, priming the knife and slashing from right to left in the same manner it had before. Toji dodged, retaliated ineffectively, and then parried a counterattack coming in the opposite direction before falling back once more, exactly in the same manner he had the second and third times.

Asuka would have been willing to bet that the sad dance of the Stooge and the Automaton would have carried on in exactly the same way ad infinitum if no outside force interfered, mainly due to the incompetence of the former. After all, the old guardian was currently hardly a threat in spite of all the trouble it was giving Toji, and chances were that it had probably been a much more stalwart and fierce defender in its prime.

If only she could find a way to land a solid hit on the weaker parts of the thing's armour...

It was as she pondered that that Asuka's eyes happened to fall upon just one such way, as she watched the ashen knight miss its latest attempt at an attack: it seemed to be favouring the left leg over the right slightly, almost imperceptibly so, as if the limb was hurting or damaged.

A fact that had the redhead looking on in surprise, bringing her impressions on the guardian soaring to new heights.

 _'So it can adapt to the environment and maybe even think for itself to some degree? It's not just working off of some completely mechanical patterns? Fascinating. It must really have been a force to be reckoned with back when it was first made.'_ Something changed in the girl's eyes as she thought that, and her smirk gradually morphed into an eager grin. _'All the more reason to see if we can get a good look at its inner workings! And that leg's definitely looking like the place to go for...'_

"Stooge, keep it in place!" she called out, lifting her weapon and catching the shaft in her usual two-handed grip. "I know how to bring this bastard down!"

Toji ducked under another attack before intentionally locking blades with his foe, putting all the strength he could muster into it.

"Got it!" he replied, voice straining under the effort. "But make it quick, will you?"

"No need to ask me twice!" the Imperial girl hastened her last few steps and primed her weapon, looking to build up momentum. "Helping the poor and helpless is what heroines are meant to do, after all!"

And then Asuka brought her axe full-force into a wide swing, aiming for the back of the guardian's left knee, at a spot that its metallic coating didn't cover.

And her weapon sank satisfyingly into her intended target, instantly crippling it and bringing the automaton tumbling onto all fours. Toji had barely enough time to sidestep out of the way of its descent.

The young man stared at the fallen guardian in surprise for a second before, finally free to relax his muscles, he let out a sigh of relief while narrowing his eyes at his companion, irritated.

"...Couldn't you have done that five minutes ago?"

The redhead merely shrugged, her attention apparently completely taken with the spot she had just struck.

"Finish it," Asuka commented inattentively, her eyes jumping to study the edge of her axe. "I'll let you do that much, Stooge."

Toji scoffed and muttered under his breath some more, but moved to deliver the final blow nonetheless. Even as he raised his katana high to do so, the ashen armour still tried to ineffectively harm the young man, but the range of movement of its right arm proved to be not enough to reach him.

With a forceful grunt, Suzuhara brought down his blade and struck the back of the guardian's neck. The edge failed to fully cut through (as Toji had no doubt intended), but did manage to dig deep enough to slice through something important, if the collapse of the ashen knight and the sudden blinking out of the red in its eyes was any indication.

The high amount of purplish liquid that started to erupt from the wound further reinforced that notion.

"What in the-?!" Toji exclaimed, jumping backwards a full metre. "Sohryu, this thing's _bleeding_!"

"I can _see_ that, Meathead," the redhead responded, pointing to the strange, purplish tinge that covered her weapon. Thankfully, the foreign substance didn't seem to be harming the edge, though. "It doesn't look like normal blood, though... Some sort of weird oil, maybe?"

"I don't think I've ever seen any oils that viscous."

"Well, _duh_ , me neither. That's why I called it weird," Asuka commented, turning her attention to what appeared to be their only way ahead. "In any case, our friend looks pretty dead and this probably isn't the time to be dissecting it. Maybe later we can carry it back to the castle somehow but, for now, let's focus on moving forward."

"...Di-what?"

The young woman had already started to lead by example when Toji's dumbfounded question stopped her dead in her tracks. She slowly turned back, her expression incredulous, and opened her mouth to explain what she thought obvious...

...before promptly deciding that it wasn't worth the effort.

"...Forget it. Just come with me, will you?"

Shaking her head in disbelief, the redhead led the way until the both of them stood in front of the sizable door, with all of its coloured lines running parallel to each other in a representation that didn't seem to make any sense. Maybe the faded inscriptions written within some of the lines would have helped in deciphering that purpose, if the passage of time hadn't rendered them almost illegible.

One thing was for sure, though: that was certainly the strangest door Asuka had ever seen.

To make matters worse, what few letters and full words Asuka could make out raised more question than answers, as well.

"This is..."the girl whispered in amazement, checking through the symbols several times to make sure that what she was reading was correct. "This is Imperial Common!"

"What?!" Toji exclaimed, looking at his companion like she had grown a second head. "You sure?!"

"Of course I am!" Asuka responded, pointing to a specific group of relatively readable letters. "I don't recognize some of the spelling and a lot of it is broken, anyway, but this is Common! I'd bet my arm on it!"

"But- But that doesn't make any sense!"

"Tell me about it!" the redhead agreed, as she fell back into thoughtful muttering. "What's written Common doing halfway across the world? And in a place where Imperials aren't welcome, no less."

"Huh..." Toji began tentatively, a relevant thought coming to his mind but clearly reticent to share it, due to past experiences with the... _foul-tempered_ woman. Nevertheless, and completely cognizant of the dangers it entailed, Toji decided to speak up. "...I don't think that last part matters. Isn't this room from way before the war?"

Fully expecting the likely consequences of criticizing Asuka, Toji steeled himself for a barrage of insults as he came up with a verbal counterattack of his own, something that he'd grown very good at doing over the last few days.

But no scathing remark came. Instead, Asuka shocked him by turning to him with a surprised look, and accepting his input.

"True. Good point, Stooge," the redhead smiled to herself and went back to her task, completely ignoring the young man that looked like he had seen a ghost. She then focused her attention on a part of the gate with significantly bigger wording on it."This is probably important. It says: Cryo... something."

Clicking her tongue in annoyance at the incomprehensible second part of the clearly crucial title, Asuka stepped back a little bit in order to allow herself a more general view of the barrier.

"...Well, I've got no idea what _that_ means, but I sure want to get this thing open now. Help me look for a handle, or something, Stooge."

The still slack-jawed boy quickly shook himself out of his stupor, hurrying to help his companion in her search for a way to open the gates before she decided to go back to her usual self. But in spite of Toji's increased willingness to do well in his part, their examination of the doors revealed very little of use: there were certainly no handles of any kind to be found on the gate itself or its surroundings, and the only other element of note was a small machine stuck to the wall next to the gates, the purpose of which was unknown.

Deciding it was as good a place as any to start, Asuka walked over to the small device, muttering to herself.

"Maybe there's something we're missing? Some small detail or other..." The redhead looked over the features of the small apparatus: it was made of metal that looked as silvery as the guardian had, and was separated into two sections. A lower one, where a dozen numbered buttons from one to zero as well as some symbols were connected, and an upper part that looked like glass but felt nothing like it and that was illuminated in a greyish light. "...This would be much easier if we had everyone else's eyes to help."

It was then that Asuka's ears perked up at the far away sound of boots coming closer, and the echoes of what sounded like a somewhat miffed purple-haired Captain.

A gleeful smile blossomed once more on the young woman's face.

"Speak of the Devil..."

"Does that count as talking to yourself for you?"

Suzuhara's snide and humourless comment (that he seemed to be incredibly proud of, for some reason) made Asuka's grin lose some of its lustre.

"...I wouldn't push my luck any further if I were you, Suzuhara," she warned in no uncertain terms, before her tone shifted to a more commanding one. "Go meet them and bring them up to date before they enter, will you? Soften the surprise, because I'd rather they don't break my focus."

"By your command, your Devilry."

The redhead threw a pointed look Toji's way as he turned to leave, but refrained from shooting any caustic comments back, instead choosing to concentrate on the puzzle that she had in front of her.

A few tentative presses of the numbered buttons revealed two facts: that each subsequent press would cause a weird-looking copy of the number to appear in the glass panel above, and that only four numbers could be on the panel at any given time. The very moment that the fourth digit was entered, a deep noise would come out of the device followed by the words 'ACCESS DENIED' quickly flashing by in big, red letters. A second later, the process would start back at the beginning.

It was obvious to Asuka that the strange machine was presenting her with a riddle of sorts, an enigma that she had to correctly answer before being granted further passage. Only that this mystery had no wording to it, nor did it offer any sort of convoluted question.

But such a thing didn't matter to her, either way. Asuka Sohryu always craved a challenge, after all, be it physical or intellectual.

It truly was such a shame then, that the intellectual challenge she had been coveting turned out to be anything but, as the redhead soon discovered.

Asuka tried and tried again for ten minutes straight, inputting different numbers and receiving the same grating noise every single time as the only answer to her efforts. The gate remained shut, and Misato and the others (after getting over their initial shock) didn't seem to be having any luck at all in their search for clues into the possible combination.

The fact that the task itself couldn't be conquered by the strength and intelligence she was so proud of was already irritating enough in and of itself, so it was soon after that the young Imperial threw up her hands in frustration.

"Gods! This is going nowhere!"

A plethora of curious eyes zeroed in on the redhead at her sudden and loud outburst, and Asuka couldn't help but feel slightly foolish at that. The feeling quickly subsided, though, being replaced by a wave of exasperation that she used to tell the curious onlookers in no uncertain terms to _mind their own business and do something useful for once_.

In a solid display of survival instincts, all of the nosy militiamen quickly did as commanded.

She then glared at the part of the machine where the numbers that she punched in kept appearing. It continued to glow in a grey light, the small horizontal line blinking in and out of existence and taunting the redhead with her abject failure at learning of its secrets.

In spite of Asuka's best efforts to light the accursed device aflame by force of will alone, nothing happened.

 _'And knowing my luck, I bet that my key out of this place will be behind that stupid door! This is so goddamn_ annoying _!'_

Asuka punctuated her thoughts by angrily slamming her hand on the device, bringing out a different and almost indignant pitch out of the thing. The girl's spirits soared for a moment at the idea that she may have actually solved the riddle, but quickly came crashing back down when the glass and line went back to glowing and blinking in the same manner they had before.

She struck it again for good measure.

Only to have her oldest friend worriedly chide her for her actions.

 _ **"C-Calm down, Asuka. That's not helping!"**_

 _'Says you,'_ Asuka mentally growled back and prepared her arm for a third strike. _'It's doing wonders for my stress relief.'_

 _ **"But what are you going to do if it breaks?!"**_ Maisie hurriedly added, successfully stopping the young Imperial's actions. _ **"J-Just breathe in and think slow. You're smart! You can do it!"**_

Asuka's fist remained suspended in midair for a few seconds, before the redhead let out a deep sigh. She slowly relaxed her fist and brought it back down.

 _'Yeah, yeah, I know. Breaking the stupid thing isn't going to help matters... But I don't think this is a problem solved with smarts, either. Thanks for the vote of confidence, anyway.'_ The young woman made to grudgingly continue on her fool's errand when she abruptly stopped herself, a thought coming to mind. _'Well, you've been quiet lately so, how about it, Maisie? Want to have a shot at a four digit number?'_

Asuka's proposal clearly took her friend by surprise, but she recovered quickly.

 _ **"O-Oh, sure! Emm... 1376."**_

 _'...That was awfully quick and specific,'_ the redhead blinked in response. _'Any particular reason?'_

 _ **"...No. It just... sort of came out like that."**_

The fact that Maisie sounded as surprised and confused as she had been wasn't lost on Asuka, but the redhead decided against pressing her for details. Chances were that, with her nerves frayed as they were already, she would only end up snapping at her friend with easily foreseeable consequences.

And the last thing Asuka needed at that point was a crying Maisie. That would be a _wonderful_ way to continue the day.

 _ **'**_ _Weird,'_ she commented with a mental shrug, going forward with the motions required for inputting the sequence. _'I guess that's as good as any other number, though.'_

Asuka was fully expecting for the usual, deep, beeping noise to assault her hearing the moment she punched in the final number, and so she nearly jumped out of her skin when a higher-pitched tone heralded the sudden parting of the damnable door.

Quick as lightning, Misato was beside her in the blink of an eye.

"Asuka! What did you do?!"

"I-I don't know?" The surprised girl responded, pointing a finger at the part of the contraption that was now glowing green. "I just put another number in and it opened!" Asuka's initial surprise quickly gave way to a satisfied smile. "Guess I got it right!"

 _'Or rather,'_ she mentally amended. _'Maisie did.'_

"...What are the chances..." Misato mused, taking a look down the new and bleakly illuminated hallway as most of the exploration force quickly converged on her position. The Captain's features darkened as she came to an unpleasant conclusion. "Well, I smell a trap. Brace yourselves for anything." The mauve-haired woman commanded to the gathered troops, before narrowing her eyes in the direction of the redheaded girl that was by her side, peeking curiously into the opened way herself. "...And no going off on your own this time around, got that?"

Asuka answered Misato's look with a cheeky grin and a shrug, before vaguely gesturing in the direction of the inactive automaton. The implied message wasn't lost on the older woman and she rolled her eyes with a shake of head.

Misato grabbed the hilt of the long sword strapped to her back, and fearlessly strode forward. The rest of the militia, Toji and Hikari included, promptly followed.

Asuka, however, hung back a bit in order to take a few seconds to look around the strange room one more time, taking in as much as she possibly could. Her cocky smile gradually transformed into a greedy one.

 _'I wonder what else there is to find in this place. Hopefully something nice, big and shiny I can replace Yuri's cheap trinket with? Or even better, a new weapon? I can't wait to find out!'_

She was about to follow the rest of the investigation team when her eyes fell upon Rei, busy inspecting the broken carcass of the fallen guardian with a look caught somewhere between surprise and determination; something that surprised the redhead a little bit. After all, it was a snowy day in hell whenever the annoying noble showed any expression other than her irritatingly blank one.

Asuka could feel a ball of rage forming in her stomach as well. One that completely overtook her high spirits, even if the reason behind it eluded her; she figured it was due to Ikari wasting valuable time in such a stupid manner. The feeling wasn't anything new, anyway.

Whatever it was that the other girl found so fascinating about the ashen knight could wait, and it wasn't like Asuka cared, either way.

"Blue! Didn't you hear?!" she called out furiously. "We're moving!"

Asuka's words startled the bluenette out of whatever weird trance she had fallen into, and she brought her eyes to look her way. Rei then looked left and right, before focusing on the open door once more, finally putting the pieces together in her head and nodding minutely in understanding.

Asuka gritted her teeth, her good mood all but completely evaporated, and stepped down the opened hallway without another word.

-]LotF[-

Misato strode forward and the third gate opened before her, completely on its own. Such a fact had surprised her the first two times during their trek of the short hallway, but it had honestly lost quite a bit of its lustre after that. She was just happy that none of the doors had required the solving of any more riddles, and that such a convoluted barrier would apparently not bar the path to their objective anymore.

For they had just entered what Misato was willing to call the final room in the strange ruins, with no additional hallways to explore in sight.

It was a massive chamber, circular in shape and easily dwarfing the previous room and any other expansive chambers that Misato could think of. It was also in a similar state to the rest of the ancient facility, with the strange lighting barely being able to illuminate much further than the centre of the room and the machinery it contained beeping in protest at measured intervals, in spite of looking like the only thing that still seemed to function properly within the chamber.

The device itself certainly looked strange and important enough to warrant proper investigation, even if figuring out how it worked was bound to be quite the task in and of itself; but Misato wasn't going to allow such a test to get in the way of her mission. After all, and by pure virtue of elimination, whatever it was that was afflicting Akuro _had_ to be somewhere within this room.

And Captain Katsuragi was going to find it. No matter what.

"Groups of three, stay on guard and check out the room," Misato ordered to her retinue, noticing with some surprise that she could see her breath escaping her lips as she spoke. The room was quite chilly, as well. "Let me know about anything you find out."

Quickly acknowledging her commands, the militia spread out and started to investigate, most teams focusing their efforts on the darkened areas that ran along the length of the wall. Asuka took command of her own team and fearlessly walked forward to search the other end of the room, while Rei set course straight for the device in the middle of the chamber, looking strangely determined (and almost _pissed_ ), much to Misato's surprise.

Which was grounds enough for the older woman to follow her charge. A charge that wasted no time at all in starting to experiment with the device the very moment she arrived at arm's reach of it, the strange mechanism seeming to come back to life at the bluenette's touch.

"Everything all right, Rei?"

The focused girl seemed to completely ignore Misato as her fingers hit time and time again against the many, small buttons that were part of the bottom half of the machine, eliciting weird symbols and a myriad of differently sized boxes to pass through the window-like upper part of the contraption, in a strange and hypnotic dance that the Captain couldn't make heads or tails of.

"...Rei?" she repeated, now sounding a lot more worried.

After all, it didn't take the violet-haired woman long to realize that Rei's motions where measured and precise, and a definite far cry from what she would have expected out of someone trying to tentatively figure out the workings of an unknown machine.

Which only left one possibility in the woman's eyes, absurd as it may have sounded.

"Wait," Misato leaned forward and whispered, her tone betraying her disbelief. "You _know_ how to use this thing?"

"Yes."

Even if Misato was happy to finally get an answer out of Rei, she wasn't quite as glad about having her theory proven right. Or about said answer being limited to a monosyllable, either.

"How?!"

"Now is not the time for me to explain that, Captain," Rei promptly (and somewhat bitterly) responded, still completely taken with whatever it was that she was doing. "But I will be sure to tell you when we are done with our investigation."

 _'Well, that cinches it,'_ Misato mused, raising an eyebrow at the out-of-character answer she'd gotten. _'There's_ obviously _something wrong with Rei, and I get the feeling that it's not because of anything Asuka did this time.'_

Misato Katsuragi wasn't a woman who was fond of secrets but, nevertheless, she decided to respect her liege's wishes and let go of her curiosity on both fronts, in light of Rei's actions probably turning out to be of use to the greater problem they were facing; it was probably best not to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.

For the time being, anyway.

"...Okay. But I'll be holding you to that, Rei." The Captain rose back up to her full height with a deep sigh, before nodding her head towards the machine. "So, is that thing useful?"

A few finger movements later, and Rei finally detached herself from her work long enough to throw the other woman a knowing look.

"...See for yourself."

In time with her words, Rei pressed one of the bigger buttons on the bottom device with her finger and a soft, whirring noise started to sound throughout the entire room. A few seconds later, and just as Misato was about to question her charge on what it was that she had done, a continuous, bright ring suddenly flared to life within the outer edge of the ceiling, bringing light to the darkened outskirts of the room...

...And seriously startling most of the present militiamen in the process.

"...Neat," the Captain praised, after shaking off her own surprise and reassuring her shaken troops. "Did you do that?"

"Yes," the bluenette confirmed, engrossing most of her attention back on the strange contraption. "This console allows me to access and activate most of the systems within this room. As well as some others outside." Rei paused in her explanation, her eyes narrowing as she apparently caught sight of something important within the machine. "...And on that note, you might want to tell the men to keep calm, once more."

"...Okaay?"

Pushing past the unnerving feeling that was welling within her at her charge's bizarre knowledge and attitude, Misato did as commanded and prepared the investigation team for an unknown revelation as well as she was able, to fairly mixed results, as expected. At her signal, Rei pressed the same button that she had used before and most of the chamber's wall responded by detaching itself from the floor and disappearing upwards and into the ceiling, right before the disbelieving stares of most everyone present.

But that supposedly impossible feat was quickly overshadowed and forgotten by what was revealed to have been behind the wall all along: some sort of bluish, transparent wall and, more importantly, dozens upon dozens of small four-legged arachnids with a single, gigantic eye, that elicited cries of surprise and recognition among the troops.

Their deeply-ingrained training quickly driving their movements, the militia instantly fell into combat positions. But their preparations turned out to be for naught, because in spite of them being clearly visible from their position, the tiny beasts made no sign of being aware of their presence. They frolicked and ran circles around the enclosure, but otherwise seemed to live in blissful ignorance.

A situation that Misato couldn't have been happier to see, as it helped the ensuing bewilderment of the reveal to quickly fade without need of any effort on her part. And not having to hastily retreat into a defensive position in the face of a numerically much greater foe was also an added bonus.

"...Well, well, look at them little buggers. Guess we finally know where they're coming from, now," Misato turned her attention to the exceedingly busy bluenette. "Since you've managed to get us this far, do you know what the purpose of this place even is, Rei-chan?"

"Not quite. But I have the means to help us find out. Scout the area and I will let you know when I do, Katsuragi-san."

"Very well. I'll leave you to your work, then."

No response came out of her charge, but Misato hadn't really been expecting one after the last couple of minutes. The Captain walked away from the centre of the room and headed towards the closest section of bluish wall, where she watched a few of the hateful troublemakers run around in carefree fashion.

The barrier itself hummed with power, constant and grave. A brief chat with a nearby scouting group told her that no one had tried to interact with it yet, and so, Misato resolved to remedy that state of affairs; grabbing a decently-sized piece of debris off of the ground, the violet-haired woman hurled it towards the barrier without a second thought.

The stone passed through harmlessly, accomplishing little more than scattering a few of the arachnids in fear.

 _'It... went through?'_ Katsuragi mused, puzzled. _'But if that's the case, why are they not coming out?'_

Emboldened by her previous experiment, Misato decided to take her testing one step further. This time, she slowly reached out towards the curtain...

...And then quickly brought her hand back with a pained yelp.

The strange wall had shocked her.

 _'Shit. The questions keep piling on and on around here, don't they?'_ Misato nursed her now itching appendage, off-handedly telling the nearby troops that she was perfectly fine. _'In any case, it's probably safe to assume that this place is a holding pen for these things. No, it's probably more accurate to say that this is some sort of prison,'_ her eyes fell upon a small group of the little monsters who were curiously checking out the latest newcomer into their cell. _'But none of that answers the most important question here: just_ why _are these things in here? For what purpose?'_

"Katsuragi!" a familiar female voice suddenly cut into her thoughts. "I found something!"

Misato turned around towards the source of the sound, and found Asuka beckoning her over from the other side of the room. Alone.

Narrowing her eyes in irritation, the violet-haired woman made her way towards the redhead with long strides. Asuka, for her part, didn't pay her much mind.

"...Didn't I _order_ to go around in groups of three?" Misato asked in no uncertain terms, the very moment she arrived at her destination.

"Yeah, but the two idiots with me were little more than a hindrance, so I told them to go bother someone else," Asuka shrugged nonchalantly, before eagerly motioning towards the device next to her. "But that's not important. Check _this_ thing out."

It was a tall, transparent tube, made out of the same strange, glass-like material that they've had encountered a few times before, and that turned out to be much tougher than any glass Akuro knew about. A few tubes joined the machine to a narrow section of the wall that hadn't disappeared, and some green-coloured numbers constantly changed within a window similar to the one Rei was working with; the machine hummed with a sound akin to the one of the barriers, but the most striking of its features turned out not to be on the machine itself, but rather, inside of it:

In the tube, swimming in what looked like amber water, two tiny, red spheres danced in circles around each other. The angle at which they did so shifted as they spun, but the distance between them remained always a constant; adding to the eccentricity, the small orbs pulsed in unison with an inner, pale light every few seconds.

It was a surprisingly beautiful display, Misato had to admit. Almost hypnotic, in a sense.

But, at the end of the day, it was also another thing that they didn't understand.

"...Wow," the Captain sighed softly. "Yet another mystery for the tally."

"You said it," Asuka agreed, pointing a finger at the tubes. "It's linked to the insides of the wall by these conduits, so it's probably important. Those little things are also glowing in the same way that the big orb outside did. The one in the pedestal thingy, remember?"

Misato did remember. She also remembered how adamant Toji had been about no one touching it.

The Captain didn't recall the big orb glowing in any way, though, but she figured that Asuka must have had reasons for claiming so. Probably related to Toji's panic and the dead armour on the floor, too, if she had to venture a guess.

"Do you think that those are the fuel for everything in here?" Misato blindly ventured, after some more thinking and observing.

Which is why she was mildly surprised to hear Asuka agree with her.

"They're not exactly oil, wood or even coal, but yeah, that's what I was thinking. The connection between this thing and the wall suggests as much, anyway."

The Captain's eyes then fell on the small window stuck to the device.

"Can you make this one work like you did the door before, then?"

"No," the redhead shook her head in the negative. "I tried already, but the buttons do nothing this time around. The machine just lets out this 'wrong' sound every time I push something."

"...Guess that was too much to ask for, then."

Asuka hummed in irked agreement before her blue eyes shifted towards Rei's tirelessly working figure.

"...Speaking of, what was the deal with the rookie?" the young woman questioned, before continuing in a warning tone. "And don't tell me she pulled off the thing with the lights and walls by sheer chance, because I'm not buying that."

"I wasn't going to," Misato shot back. "And I don't know. Rei certainly knows what she's doing, though, and I'd say that she's looking for something."

"Maybe that's the real reason why she wanted to come," the redhead scoffed. "Keep a good grasp on some nefarious high-born secrets that we peasants aren't supposed to know about?"

"Cut that out, Rei's not like that. Why she knows how to handle this stuff is a mystery to me, sure, but I get the feeling that she wasn't actually aware of the existence of these ruins."

"Whatever, that's your biased opinion. But I know that I'm going to be keeping tabs on her after we're done here, at least until I can finally continue on with my journey."

"...For Lady's sake. You two are like big children, you know?" the Captain criticized, feeling her patience start to wear thin. "Suit yourself. Just make sure to keep as many tabs on this thing. Let me know about anything you find out, big or small."

With a roll of her eyes and an annoyed sigh, Asuka uttered a flippant 'Yes, Captain' and went back to work. Misato briefly considered chastising her for her lack of proper respect, but ultimately decided against it. They had greater things to worry about than military hierarchy at the moment, and, in her own way, Asuka was doing good work.

And, to be honest, frazzling her nerves wasn't high in her list of priorities, either.

Noticing that a sizable part of the wall hadn't moved during her liege's previous discovery, Misato decided to head that way next. The portion of the wall in question was in a direct line from (even if considerably distant to) the passage they had all used to enter the room, as well as the device that Rei was tirelessly utilising.

Which made Misato wonder just how she had managed to miss said segment of the wall altogether. She soon figured that the more outlandish discoveries must have grabbed hold of enough of her attention for her to pass over normally mundane objects, though.

"Rei, that section of the wall is still down," the violet-haired woman commented, motioning towards it with a hand. "Does it move like the rest or is it supposed to stay like that?"

"It can retract as well." Her liege responded, not stopping in her tinkering for even a second.

"Why is it still closed, then?"

"Because I have not found any information regarding what is behind that door yet, Captain," Rei elaborated. "That is why I chose to leave it shut for the time being."

"Fair enough," the Captain concurred, finding nothing wrong with Rei's logic. She didn't stop there, however. "Can you open it now, though?"

The bluenette's constant endeavour stopped at the unexpected request and she raised her head to look at Misato. Her apprehension at the idea was clearly written on her face.

"...Is that wise, Misato-san?"

"You tell me," the older woman pointed her thumb at the wall in question. "Is that weird barrier in effect over there as well?"

Resisting the urge to instantly nod her assent, Rei took a few moments to tinker with the machine some more, just to make sure of her findings. She ultimately confirmed the Captain's thoughts.

"It is."

"Then it should be fine, right? The little bastards don't seem to be aware of our presence, and we can't afford to spend all day down here." Misato barked a few commands at the gathered militia and had them surround the sealed area, weapons at the ready. "We'll be prepared for anything, just in case."

Her charge showed clear signs of hesitation but, honestly, also saw herself having little chance of success in her attempts to glean any more information from the terminal she was accessing. She already considered herself fortunate enough for her limited skills to have produced as many results as they had, so Rei saw little reason in denying Misato's request.

...In spite of the unsettling feeling welling up in her stomach.

"Very well," the bluenette acquiesced, her dainty fingers flying once more. "Opening the gate."

Acknowledging Rei's declaration with a satisfied nod, the Captain turned around and took her own blade from its ornate crimson scabbard, the nodachi letting out an eager, whistling sound as it finally fled its confinement.

A sign of both pride and responsibility, it was truly a beautiful weapon, a paragon of weaponsmithing, and a testament to how much the Ikari family trusted Misato. The blood-red cloth covering the hilt and the golden tinge of the steel blade were separated by a deep-black rectangular hand guard alone, that was the only thing that contrasted with all of the red when the blade itself was sheathed.

Misato rested the sizable sword on her right shoulder and prepared herself for anything, the sight of their commander and her blade ready for battle having a calming effect on those around her. The militiamen's weapons became steadier as they waited, their breathing more regular and their spirits lifted.

The waiting itself took a considerable amount of time, the remaining section of the wall going up at a remarkably slower pace than it had before, almost irritatingly so. Whether that was due to heavier weight or some half-assed attempt at tension by the powers that be, Misato couldn't tell.

What she _could_ make out, once the gargantuan barrier passed the halfway point and what lay behind began to become clear, was the sound of several weapons clattering to the ground in near unison. Misato, herself, required all of her willpower for her prized blade not to join in on the cacophony.

"...By the Holy Eyes," she whispered, awestruck. "What _is_ that thing?"

For a massive multi-coloured eye regarded her with curiosity from within.

-]LotF[-

"...Rei?"

Misato's voice was subdued as she observed the being before her. Similar to the arachnids that populated the cells in shape only, the newly uncovered prisoner was gargantuan in size and barely able to fit inside of its enclosure, which made estimating its actual height all the more difficult. Still, assuming that it carried itself in the same manner as the smaller spider-like beasts did, the bluenette was willing to say that it could easily break the ten metre mark at its highest point.

Covered in a sturdy-looking dark green shell, and with a myriad eyes engulfing its body, the giant didn't even blink as its minuscule cousins made their way all over it, going up its spindly legs, and running around the upper part of its frame.

To call the caged creature intimidating was putting it mildly, as far as Rei was concerned. Her heart beating wildly within her chest, she brought her gaze back to the machine before her, looking for something, _anything_ , to assuage her panic.

And actually found it, much to her surprise.

"It's... It's contained!" the young woman called out, not entirely sure of whether she was reassuring Misato or herself. "S-Some sort of security system just unlocked itself after we opened the gate and allowed me access to more files. Important files," Rei quickly skimmed through the unlocked information, confirming her theory. "It shouldn't be able to move at all. The cell was made specifically for holding it in."

"...I'll take your word for it," Misato responded, not letting her guard drop. One by one, the gathered soldiers overcame their shock and joined her. "How come this thing can see us, anyway?"

"I-I don't think it's so much _seeing_ you, Captain, and more it having a bunch of giant eyes." Toji commented, having joined Misato after her call for support.

"...Fair point," the violet-haired woman conceded, turning to regard the other troops. "In any case, I think it's safe to say that we finally found our culprit. You know the drill, people. See if you can find anything interesting around here, especially in regards to killing these things; just don't get _too_ close, okay? Just in case."

"That goes for you as well, Rei," she added, flicking her gaze towards the bluenette. "The thing you're using looks capable of many feats, so maybe you'll be the one that's actually capable of solving our problems."

Engrossed in her work, Misato's charge merely hummed in agreement. Not wanting to distract her, the older woman said no more.

Even if she didn't like how narrowed Rei's eyes looked, or the almost angry expression that had suddenly returned to her face.

"Look, Captain. Over there, behind it," Toji pointed to the back of the cell, bringing Misato's attention back to the matter at hand. "The floor's eroded. Or burnt, rather, courtesy of that yellow goop, I bet. I think the hole's big enough for the little ones to make their way through, too." Almost as if intending to confirm Toji's theory, one of the little spiders jumped from the top of the bigger one, retracting its thin legs close to its body and seamlessly slipping into the tunnel; both observers scowled at the sight, quickly putting two and two together. "Bastards pulled off one hell of a prison escape, it looks like."

"But wait, that doesn't make any sense," the Captain argued back. "If whoever built this place was aware of its prisoner's capabilities, why would they build their cells with such an exploitable flaw? And this place is _old_ , too, so why did our friends choose to escape _now_ , of all times, anyway?"

"...Because they didn't have that capability when they were first corralled."

Misato whirled back around, not having expected an answer to her question at all, and much less for said answer to come from where it did.

"Excuse me?"

Rather than directly respond, Rei focused more of her attention on the device before her. The main panel of the machine now showed a lengthy manuscript that Asuka wouldn't have had trouble understanding, which the bluenette selectively read aloud.

"17th of Otsai, 564. The spawn of Matarael keeps changing, evolving at an unprecedented pace. Their infuriating adaptability has already forced me to upgrade and reinforce this installation countless times, not helped in the slightest by their asexual reproduction and the worrying frequency of new generations, which more than makes up for their otherwise short lifespan in confinement. This situation might not have been a foreseeable complication of my initial plans, but that's of little consolation to my patience; I can only be thankful that the main subject doesn't share those exasperating traits with his unwanted offspring, even if its resilience is enraging enough in its own right."

Rei flicked her fingers atop the glass, bringing up a different section of the document.

"...It has come to the point where any further research on the captured subject is no longer an acceptable risk, especially with cryostasis not being an option anymore. In any case, it has already become obvious that the chance of Matarael holding any answers that would further my objectives is awfully slim, due to his nature as a distant, if partially successful, off-shoot of the project's initial aims. As such, I have decided to back up any relevant advancements to the mainframe, and entomb this place forevermore; no matter how much they evolve or reproduce, those little devils won't be able to escape once the final modifications are finished. Synthmetal coating below the walls and floor and some of the strongest force-fields I have access to will make sure of that, while a pair of supercharged cores will be able to keep this entire facility running indefinitely.

"...And so will this prison serve as a twisted memorial for one B-1376, and an eternal reminder to yet another one of my sins. So that neither I, nor those who may follow, stray from the chosen path."

"...I didn't really get most of that," Toji finally commented, hesitant. "But I guess the prison wasn't as impregnable as the author thought?"

"...No," Rei agreed, catching sight of a familiar name among the final lines of the document. "No, it wasn't."

 _'...Doctor Anker?'_ the bluenette mused, her brow creasing further. _'...Is this the same Anker that Mother mentioned?'_

"Anything else of use in that thing, Rei?"

Blinking back to reality, Rei raised her eyes to regard her guardian's look of concern. The same one that had been adorning her face for quite some time now, she realised.

"I... I'm afraid not, Captain," the young woman shook her head. "The manuscript goes into detail about many things in regards to this... _Matarael_ , but offers no clues on how to actually dispose of-"

An unusual beeping sound from the machine before her cut the rest of the girl's sentence off. Startled, Rei quickly looked back at the display, only to find a mess of garbled messages and shifting numbers that she couldn't make any sense of staring back at her.

"...W-What is...?"

And then, the lights flickered for an instant.

The first flicker was followed by a second, lengthier one, and then by a third. In time with those events, the gentle hum that filled the room steadily rose in pitch until it became almost unbearable, the overwhelming sound assaulting and worming its way into the militia's hearing and bringing many to their knees, no matter how hard they fought to keep it out.

"What was that?!" Misato demanded, covering her ears in pain and barely managing to stand her ground. "What's going on?!"

"I-I don't know!" Rei shot back, fighting the urge to shut her eyes at the oppressive pain, and trying to understand the message that the device was trying to deliver. "Wait, the power system! It's-!" the bluenette's eyes widened, as a flashing, red word suddenly appeared in front of her. " _Overloading_?! But that's-!"

 _'Impossible!'_ she thought, her jaw instinctively clenching tightly and blocking her voice from coming out. _'A sudden overload with no abrupt changes in power consumption and just two cores that have been working for Lady knows how long is just-'_

Rei hurriedly turned her attention towards the only place where the problem could have occurred...

...and her train of thought promptly screeched to a halt.

For standing next to the tube, Asuka stared intently at the dancing, crimson spheres. The young woman was lost in thought, her eyes vacant (as she often was). But, in stark contrast to other occasions, Rei noticed the redhead holding onto a golden chain. Dangling from it, one of Asuka's material possessions almost caressed the floor, an ornament that the girl had stubbornly dismissed as a 'cheap trinket' time and time again, despite apparently never taking it off her person.

...

A cheap trinket that was lacking its centrepiece, and a power generator that now had three powered cores inside of it, instead of the pair it was meant to.

 _'No way... How did I not notice?!'_ Rei despaired, her mind quickly piecing together the events that must have happened. _'Sohryu, what have you done?!'_

In time with her thoughts, the unbearable humming reached a crescendo and finally forced the bluenette to shut her eyes tightly and clasp her hands around her ears, in a futile attempt to block the noise out. Holding that position for several seconds, Rei thought she felt herself scream, but couldn't tell for sure without being able to actually hear herself.

...

...Until, mercifully, it ultimately stopped; reaching its climax with a loud bang, Rei could barely make out the hellish sound swiftly tone down into silence through the ringing in her ears.

And with that, bringing forth the confirmation of her fears.

When the young woman opened her eyes once more, only darkness greeted her. And knowing exactly what that fact entailed, Rei wasted no time in crying out a harried warning.

"Everyone, get-!"

...But further words didn't come out, swallowed as they were by the sound of frantic skittering and the panicked screams of those around her.

-]LotF[-

"...What...?" Asuka blinked, suddenly feeling disoriented and more than a bit dizzy. "...Where-"

With a pained gasp, the redhead brought a hand to her temple and, with the motion, felt a familiar ornament lightly smack her on the face. Briefly, a minor part of her brain tried to consider the unfathomable reason behind it being so, before being overwhelmed by the far more pressing matter that occupied the rest of her mind.

Her head _hurt_. It felt as if a huge carriage full of screaming infants had gone into her right ear and out of the other, knocking over everything that it found in its way and generally making a mess of things.

Repeatedly.

And as if that wasn't already terrible enough, the fact that Asuka's thoughts were seriously muddled didn't help. Neither did the weird clogging of her ears, either.

"...What was I doing?" she muttered, pocketing the trinket somewhere safe while fighting through the gnawing pain inside her skull and taking a look at her surroundings. Or what little she could see of them, at least. "And why's everything so dark now?"

The young woman narrowed her eyes, as an errant and unwanted thought made its way towards the forefront of her mind.

"Don't tell me I'm dead or some bullshit like that."

Almost as if answering her question, a bright glare suddenly assaulted her sight, momentarily (and terrifyingly) bringing some credence to the passing theory. Asuka quickly dismissed the idea of some sort of pearly gate, though, the orb shining with a ferocious orange intensity before splitting into smaller parts that took off in different directions, bringing a dim illumination to a massive room that the redhead quickly recognized.

The heat that washed over her body further reassured her towards her overall well-being, which was also nice.

"...This is that place," Asuka whispered to herself before her eyes widened, recollection dawning on her. "Oh, right! I was-"

But further remembrance was cast off to the side when her eyes caught sight of a few, small silhouettes illuminated by the room's new light source, consisting of a few fiery embers that burned brightly, despite lacking anything to burn _through_. The shapes swiftly made their way across the room, all in different directions but somehow managing to stay strangely organized, nonetheless.

More importantly, though, they were out of the cages where Asuka had last seen them. And many of them were clambering onto a few unfortunate militiamen, bringing them to the ground and piling on by the dozens while using their spindly extremities to stab themselves in place, before covering them in the same yellow goo that had eaten through the redhead's weaponry all those days ago.

The bone-chilling screams that pierced through the clogging of her ears would haunt Asuka's dreams for weeks to come.

They were also the sound that made her instinctively reach out for the weapon on her back.

 _'W-What?'_ Asuka watched on, her mind working into a frenzy. _'What's going on here?!'_

But she didn't have time to ponder on those thoughts before someone grabbed her left hand and started to forcefully pull her along to places unknown; a quick (and slightly anxious) glance revealed it to be none other than her former scouting partner.

"H-Hey!" Asuka protested, not at all thrilled at the prospect of being manhandled. And by Suzuhara of all people, no less. "What the hell?! _Let go_!"

But not only did the idiotic ape-man fail to comply with the redhead's demands, he actually tugged on her hand harder than he was before, essentially leaving the young woman little choice but to be dragged along.

"Then stop gawking and get a move on, you idiot!"

"Who are you calling an idiot, you-, you-" Asuka angrily spluttered, struggling to find a suitable comeback for the heinous boy. "Meat-for-brains?!"

She inwardly cringed at her words. Her dizziness was clearly getting to her if that was the best she could come up with.

But they still seemed to do the trick.

"The one that's apparently fine with being stabbed and slimed all over!" Toji shot back, enraged. "Now shut up and run, gaijin!"

In spite of a sizable part of her wanting nothing but to tear Toji a new one for _daring_ to speak to her in such a manner, Asuka managed to rein her impulses in long enough to focus on the situation at hand. People were dying, after all, and it was a heroine's duty to make sure that such a fate befell as few people as humanly possible.

...

Suzuhara was still _so_ getting it after the day was done, though. _That_ she swore on the name of Asuka the Red.

The taller boy led them to the gate the group had used to enter the chamber, where some of the militia stood in defensive positions, ready for anything. Misato was among them and, much to Asuka's relief, Hikari as well.

On the other side of the relief spectrum, the redhead noted that the door was now shut, leaving them trapped with the freely roaming arachnids. Thankfully, the bulk of their number were still too busy poring over the poor souls that had long since gone silent to turn their attention on the rest of the group.

"Oh, thank the Lady, you two are all right." The Captain exclaimed when she spotted the pair's arrival. "But where's Keiichi?" she then asked after doing a swift, mental head count. Asuka did the same and counted five people missing from the starting party. "And Honda?"

"...I-I got separated f-from Keiichi-san over there," Hikari pointed a shaking finger at the gathering mound of spiders. "I c-couldn't pull him with me."

"...I last saw Honda in the same area, Captain." Another soldier added, voice sombre.

"...Shit." Misato swore, offering a silent prayer for the fallen. She then seamlessly transitioned into her commanding persona, offering Asuka another look into the Katsuragi she had seldom seen. "Pull yourselves together, everyone. They'll eventually be coming over here next." The violet-haired woman threw a look at the door behind her, and at the bluenette that was not-so-calmly handling the device next to it. "Rei! Can you get that blasted door open?!"

"It should have opened already, but it's not responding to my commands!" As if looking to prove her point, the contraption responded to Blue's insistent tapping with the grave, denying, sound that Asuka was already familiar with. "The gate's locked in place! It must be some sort of emergency measure, to prevent the subjects' escape in case of critical system malfunction!"

" _Wonderful_ , critical indeed. Keep trying." The Captain then turned to regard her troops once more, signalling with her hands a tight semicircle around their location. "Defensive positions, soldiers. Use our longer reach and support each other. We'll buy Rei enough time to get us out of here; do you have those firebombs that Aida offered on you, Suzuhara?"

"Yeah, Captain," Toji nodded his head, quickly heading over to the expedition's supplies and taking out a sizable leather bag, which he affixed to his belt, smirking. "Fire at will?"

"Sure, just remember to aim for the bigger clusters. We've got to make those things count."

"That's it?" Asuka interjected, sounding heated and more than a bit incredulous. "Fighting against the tide until we're all dead doesn't sound like a great plan, if you ask me!"

"My plans are usually a bit better, but since we don't really have a lot of material or spatial advantages to work with here... yeah, I'm afraid that's it. I'm counting on our spirit to carry us through this one." Misato threw a pointed look the younger woman's way. "Then again, I'm all ears if you've got any ideas, kiddo."

"Can't you cheat like you did during our spar?"

"I will, rest assured, but if you mean for me to just get in the middle of things and wreck the opposition, I'm afraid that there's just too many of them. I'd still get overwhelmed and, for all of its perks, my crest doesn't make me invulnerable," Misato turned to eye the hill of fleshy monsters, a small part of which had devolved into infighting. The woman tried not to think about _what_ the source of the disagreement was. "Doesn't help that the bastards are quick on their feet, either. Some way to keep them in place would do wonders in dealing with them."

"Keep them in place, she says," the redhead scoffed, her disbelief shifting a little into something else. "Why don't you ask for an army while you're-"

"I may be able to help with that."

"Wha...?" Disrupted in mid-sentence, Asuka turned to the person that had spoken. She found her aristocratic nemesis walking away from her assigned job, and didn't even try to fight the scowl forming on her face.

"I appreciate the offer," Misato responded, sounding more than a bit concerned. "But I think you should focus on getting us out of here, Rei."

The bluenette shook her head in dismal denial.

"That will not do, Captain, I have verified that the gate is not going to open in any timely manner. I will need to physically open up the console and try to bypass the safeties that way, but I will not be done before we are overrun." Rei narrowed her eyes past Misato, at what lay further behind. "Our efforts should be focused on securing the area first."

"Pff. Easier said than done."

The Captain threw a pointed look Asuka's way at her disrespecting tone (which the redhead ignored), before turning her attention back to more important matters.

"I have to agree with Asuka," the violet-haired woman then signalled to the massive cavity in the wall at the other end of the chamber. "Besides, aren't you forgetting about the big guy, Rei?"

"Matarael is physically restrained, on top of the other safety measures. It will not go anywhere, I assure you, or it would have, already."

"I guess you have a point, there. Even if it doesn't really change our bigger problem." Misato glanced at the mound of spiderlings, and missed the redhead's look of confusion; the arachnids were still busying themselves. A state of affairs that surely wasn't going to stay the same way forever, which further convinced her that action needed to be taken _soon_. "Quick. What do you want to do?"

"Wait," Asuka cut in, shock evident in her voice. "You're not seriously listening to the rookie, are you, Katsuragi?"

"I am, because we don't exactly have a lot of options, Sohryu. And like I said, I'm open to ideas. Since you failed to provide one, I turn to Rei," further proving her point, Misato did as she had just said. "Go on."

"I can hold them in place as you asked, maybe even more, for a time," the bluenette elaborated, presenting her jewelled foci as an explanation for her intentions. "I will also need a few moments to prepare, and protection in case of attack."

"What? Stop it with the nonsense, Blue!" Asuka voiced her opinion before Misato could, the explanation clearly not sitting well with her. "Those things aren't balls, and your light breezes aren't going to get us out of this one! What are you, stupid?!"

" _Asuka!_ "

"Don't you 'Asuka' me! What she's saying's ridiculous and you know it!" the redhead argued, angrily pointing a finger at Rei. "I'm not going to be staking my life on _her_ delusions of grandeur!"

"That is fine, Sohryu-san." The young Lady quickly asserted, giving Asuka some pause. The foreign woman slowly turned, a dangerous glint in her eye.

"...Excuse me?"

"You will certainly be little more than a hindrance in battle after my actions."

"H-Hindrance?!"

"Besides," Rei continued, eyes narrowed and in as close to an angry tone as the redhead had heard out of her ever since their very first meeting. "You already have done more than enough."

"How- How _dare_ you?!" Asuka spluttered, initially shocked at the other girl's words but quick to recover, moving to stand in front of her face. "And what the hell's _that_ supposed to mean, you blue-haired fr-!?"

At least until a gold-tinged blade appeared from above to block her movement, the flat side of it uncomfortably close to her face.

" _Sohryu, Rei!_ " Misato hissed, furious. " _Not. The. Time._ "

The foreign woman jumped back slightly, taken aback by the Captain's enraged approach. The bluenette reacted in a similar way, which opened the way for Misato to relay her orders.

"Asuka, you stay back and take care of Hikari. Just in case anything gets past us," said girl quickly moved to disagree, but Misato would have none of it, this time. "No argument! Your payment's on the line."

Instantly realising that she would not be winning this battle of wills, the redhead settled for shooting her counterpart one last look, filled to the brim with flaming anger, before she took off and moved to stand beside a visibly unnerved Hikari.

"And _you_ go right ahead, Rei," Misato continued by turning to her liege, tone respectful but clearly betraying her lack of amusement. "I don't know what's up with you today, but we'll follow your lead."

Nodding her head cautiously (and with a fair bit of shame), the bluenette closed her eyes and advanced a small distance forward, far enough for no one to be in front of her, but close enough for the militia to protect her in case of danger.

And, for a moment, Rei just stood there, arms crossed over her chest and chanting to herself in too low a volume to be properly heard. Before long, however, a faint, pale light started to radiate off of her; or rather, from those jewelled foci of hers, Asuka reasoned, even if she couldn't really tell from her position.

That explanation was _far_ better than the more than unsettling picture of Blue somehow glowing in the dark, anyway.

Besides, Asuka was more worried about the acute itching sensation that suddenly travelled all over her body. An unpleasant feeling that she had gone through twice before, but that was accompanied by a harsh bout of nausea this time around, bad enough for her to barely be able to hold on to her footing.

 _'Oh, come on! Not this mana crap again!'_ the redhead lamented, bringing a hand to her head in a futile attempt to assuage yet another new symptom that felt as if someone was trying to hammer a burning nail through her skull. _'Gah! Guess the little bitch wasn't lying about me being useless like this, after all.'_

This time around, however, she was not the only one affected, for most remaining members of the expedition brought their hands to lightly scratch at the back of their necks pretty much in unison. But considering that most of them were looking at her reactions with apprehension, it was safe to assume that their pains were nowhere near as severe as what the redhead was feeling.

The lucky bastards.

 _'But wait. Didn't she say that the people of the castle had grown immune to its effects? What's with this, then?'_

A second, bluish light invaded Asuka's vision from the side, and the redhead felt the pain within her head go from hot rod inside her head to pinpricks entering her brain. Which is to say: far from comfortable, but a massive improvement, nonetheless.

"That should make the pain a little bit better for the time being." Her saviour declared, the light atop her staff fading until it was no more. The comfort that it had bestowed remained, though.

"Thanks, Hikari." Asuka gave her friend a pained, if relieved, smile. "You're a lifesaver."

"Think n-nothing of it, Asuka-san. This is what little I can do at the moment, anyway."

"That's more than what _I_ can do, already. Don't sell yourself short." The redhead scoffed in response, turning to scowl at her nemesis' back while she tried to figure out what her plan was. But no matter what she thought of, no useful applications of Rei's powers came to mind.

"Lady Rei must be using a vast amount of mana, far beyond what we are used to," Hikari commented, echoing Asuka's thoughts and looking over the rest of the group with mild concern, before focusing her attention on the chanting aristocrat that remained unmoving. "...I didn't know that she was capable of such a feat, though."

"You're probably not the only one," Asuka muttered, annoyed. "She told me herself that she couldn't hurt me like this."

"...Did she, now? I wonder why."

Further conversation between the two came to a halt when the pair noticed a few of the spiderlings cease what they were doing and focus their single eye on Rei, their attention no doubt attracted by the ghostly aura that the girl was letting out.

They blinked once, twice, some of them even tilting their head to the side and letting out a strange, clicking sound that made Asuka think of a hermit crab for some reason.

...

...All things considered, she might have actually thought them cute if her life had not been in mortal peril.

But then they started to move forward and, as one, the rest of the pack suddenly lost interest in what they were doing and turned to follow, charging at a much faster pace than what their spindly limbs would have led to believe and quickly starting to cover the distance between them and the bluenette, almost stepping on top of each other to be the one in first place.

And in response, Misato and the militia stepped forth, forming a protective wall of blades and spears in front of and around their liege. With a war cry, they received the creatures' assault and responded in kind with liberal implementation of stabs and slashes, many of the arachnids staying true to what Misato had once explained and veritably _exploding_ into amber goo the moment their shell was punctured.

Thankfully for the defenders, however, they made good use of the longer reach of their weapons to stay away from the worst part of the eruptions, even if some parts of their armour and weapons inevitably ended up covered in sludge.

Misato, for her part, put her huge blade to good use by slashing left, right and centre, taking beastie after beastie in an almost effortless manner, the same greenish glow that Asuka quickly recognized shining brightly in the area of her collarbone.

But more spiderlings poured in to make up for the losses, coming out of places unknown and constantly filling in the gaps while not allowing the defenders a moment's respite; honestly, and quite dreadfully, Asuka had expected the line to falter at any time, but the militia surprised her by showing that, as it turned out, they really did know how to fight. It was only that their talents lay more on the defensive side of warfare than it did the opposite.

...Which was still a fairly useless talent to possess, as far as Asuka was concerned, but one that she could at least respect.

Somewhat.

Finally, and after what felt like forever, Rei unfolded her arms until her body formed the shape of a cross, and the aura that had been forming around her wrists started to travel forward and unto her palms. Slowly, very slowly, the light intensified, gaining in hue and clarity until it reached a tone caught between pearl and azure.

And with it, Rei's voice started to gain intensity as well, slowly but surely. Through her own anguished situation, Asuka could make out the voice of her nemesis sounding strained, laboured.

...As if she was in serious pain.

"...Mine is thy power, for to my... will thou are bent; H-Heed the pact and serve me, Oh Queen of Ice...! Come forth, u-unending darkness, eternal glacier!"

Perceiving her liege's actions (and the ominous glowing) as the apex of her plan, Misato loudly commanded before slashing one final time, taking three more monsters out, and jumping out of the way.

" _FALL BACK!_ "

Her troops followed, and they barely had enough time to get out of the way before Rei slammed her hands on the floor with a final cry...

" **FIMBULVETR!** "

...and the elements responded by flash-freezing the entire area before her, a thick sheet of ice quickly advancing forth to cover the floor, walls, and even the central machine. Most of the monsters at ground level were instantly entombed under a glacial prison, with many more having a sizable part of their body trapped in the frigid cold.

But Rei wasn't done.

With a torturous scream that echoed loudly inside of the massive chamber Rei rose back up and threw her arms outwards, as if she was trying to rip a giant sheet of paper in half.

And the frozen wasteland shattered in a million, tiny pieces, cracking all of those trapped within in just as many little parts...

...and making the pained screams of two young women echo across the massive chamber, before they both collapsed onto the floor.

"Crap!" Misato barely had enough time to grab her liege ahead of a nasty fall. Carefully laying her on the floor, the violet-haired woman issued a quick command before taking hold of her blade, once more. "Hikari, check on Rei! Everyone else, seize the moment! _CHARGE!_ "

"Huh?!" the young Horaki, who had barely managed to catch hold of Asuka, herself, looked on in shock as Katsuragi jumped forward and into the fray. The freckled girl quickly glanced between the two fallen females, trying to decide whether leaving the redhead to fend for herself at the time was a good idea.

"...'m fine. Go get her," Asuka eventually reassured her friend through clenched teeth, motioning with a shaking hand towards the bluenette that was curled up, and apparently in excruciating pain. "She clearly needs your help more than I do."

Hikari hesitated for a moment longer, but quickly nodded her head and took off to try and relieve her liege's aches. But not before promising that she'd be back to do the same for Asuka as soon as possible.

Not that Asuka expected the brunette's promised help to arrive in any timely manner, however. Rei was probably going through hell if her shriek had been anything to go by and, unlike her, Asuka could bet that her pure-blooded nemesis wasn't used to the aches of military life like she was.

Even if the events of the last couple of minutes could hardly have been called _military_ in nature. Point was, Asuka could handle some pain on the side and still retain enough presence of mind to function properly; which is what she did when, amidst the sounds of battle echoing in the background, the redhead gathered enough strength to sit back up on her own. Her eyes and mind, burning as they might have been, promptly turned to evaluating the transformed battleground.

And what little remained of their enemies.

"...That was more useful than a summer breeze would have been, I'll give her that."

What few surviving arachnids lucky enough to still be intact managed to rally together, but with a lot of their numbers quickly and efficiently taken care of (much as Asuka hated to admit it), things were definitely looking up.

The tables having turned, it was now the militia who chased after the little beasts, making good use of teamwork to further enforce their superiority. Individually and in small numbers the spiderlings had little hope of victory, and any sizable packs that they tried to form up were quickly and forcefully disbanded with a well-aimed fire bomb, courtesy of Toji Suzuhara.

They clearly stood no chance anymore, and Asuka felt little regret in seeing them die helplessly, to be honest. It was a fitting retribution for being indirectly responsible in making her feel terrible, if nothing else.

Before long, the huge chamber was secure once more, most of the escaped inmates either laying dead in varying states of dismemberment or having scurried back to the darkness. All things considered, it was unlikely that they would be coming back out again.

"...And that's that." Misato scanned the battlefield one final time, before deeming it safe once again and swinging her prized nodachi a few times to try and get the better part of the gunk off of it. The amber liquid slid off with little difficulty, and the Captain smoothly slid the weapon back into its scabbard, the greenish glow near her neck fading away with nary a sound; she then turned to regard her troops. "Good work, everyone. Now, to get that door open and find a way of dealing with-"

A deafening clanging sound suddenly interrupted the woman's words. A kind of noise that had sounded eerily similar to a chain or some other sort of metallic object forcefully _snapping_ , and that had come from somewhere close to their position.

Somewhere close and _behind her_ , to be precise. Which, considering her location, didn't leave many possibilities open in the woman's mind.

Trying to make as little noise as humanly possible, Misato slowly, _very_ slowly, turned around to face the biggest cell in the entire room. As she did, the violet-haired woman threw all reservations regarding her piety to the wind and mentally prayed for Lady Lilith to grant her a boon, and make it so her suspicions would turn out not to be correct.

But her plea clearly fell on deaf ears. Because while it was too dark to properly see, the Captain could barely make out a shadow moving in the darkness.

...

A _big_ shadow.

" _Oh. You gotta be kidding me._ " Misato quickly issued a fall back order, which none of her men proved insane enough to defy. "Didn't you say that it was contained?!"

"I-It should be!" Rei responded, all remaining vestiges of pain all but forgotten in light of the new crisis. "What I read about the restraints described them as being nigh unbreakable!"

In time with the bluenette's words, a massive leg broke out of the darkness, stabbing into the chamber's solid flooring like the spear of an angry angel and _ripping_ through it. As the limb pulled back and allowed traction for a massive carapace full of inquisitive oculi, the gargantuan beast displaced a veritable sea of the dreaded amber liquid out of its cell and into the main chamber.

Remembering the feats that its younger brethren had managed to accomplish by use of the hateful goo, Misato quickly put two and two together while, behind her, a redhead stared in awed horror.

"Well, they clearly were as indestructible as the coating beneath this place." The Captain muttered, before a second clanging resonated within the room and another massive limb broke off its restraints to grasp at freedom; Misato immediately turned towards her liege, feeling more frightened than she'd been in over a decade. " _Please_ tell me that you can freeze that thing too, Rei."

The bluenette slowly shook her head, her skin a deathly pale and her eyes wide as plates as she watched the formerly captive Matarael shift interests from dragging its body out, to destroying any piece of machinery that was within range of its legs.

"I c-can't. Even before I f-fully spent my energies, it w-wouldn't have been enough, Misato-san."

" _Damn it!_ And we were doing so great, too." Misato swore, after seeing her main hope for facing such a difficult situation vanish into thin air.

The Captain threw a sideways glance at her troops: most were harried, if not outright panicking, and the few wounds that the small group had sustained during their last skirmish left a small but critical amount of soldiers questionably fit for duty.

But still, their weapons and armour had endured the hardships of the mission well enough, and could quite probably yet last through a respectable amount of skirmishes. Their enemy and main objective was right in front of them, too, and, regardless of whether an exit strategy presented itself or not, the threat against the castle would not end until it was dead or otherwise dealt with.

It was thus, that Misato Katsuragi arrived at a conclusion.

Her face set in a determined scowl, Misato took out her blade once more, the nodachi singing as it left the scabbard and focusing everyone's eyes and attention on her.

"Oh well, guess that means we're doing things the _fun_ way, Watchers," she declared, the mark on her collarbone flaring once more with a blindingly bright shine; just as quickly, the morale of her troops drastically improved. Spears wavered no more, and an echo of Misato's own resolute look spread amongst the ranks. "Everybody get into position! I don't care how big it is and neither should you! This thing's threatening _our_ home! That means that we're bringing it down in the name of everyone there, and that we'll be carrying its carcass back with us to _hang_ from the castle walls!"

A vibrant cheer answered her, and Misato felt a deep sense of pride wash over her.

"W-What?! Are you _crazy_?!" Asuka, for her part, tried to cut through the cheering, Misato's outlandish claims overriding the girl's previous state of shock. "You can't be thinking of taking on that thing with just a handful of sticks!"

"Well, you're welcome to join us, kiddo, if you think that our sticks won't be enough; although I personally think that you should rest up some more. As for the insane part, I can assure you that I'm not far enough gone to miss an unwinnable battle when I see one. This is no such case." Misato then winked impishly at Rei, who suddenly looked even _worse_ , and her voice suddenly shifted from serious to jovial, completely seamlessly. "Besides, worst case scenario? We all die a horrible and slimy death, and I avoid being lectured to death by your dearest mommy, Rei-chan. _There's_ a silver lining if I ever saw one."

"What's this? No lectures?" a mirth-filled voice suddenly travelled from the direction of the locked door, severely muffled, but loud enough for it to be heard from within the chamber. "My, my... You never struck me as someone fond of wishful thinking, Captain."

As one, everyone in the room turned towards the door and, almost instantly, Misato's smile left her face.

Her expression turned aghast just as quickly.

"... _Please_ tell me that wasn't-"

Any further expression was forced to an end when eight metallic fingers grabbed hold of the bottom of the locked door and _tore_ it open as if it was made of paper.

"Zero?!" Rei exclaimed, not believing her eyes. "M-Mother?!"

-]LotF[-

"It is good to see you unharmed, dear." Yui Ikari smiled at her daughter's expression, before coming out from behind the orange giant that had effortlessly crushed open the door and turning towards Misato, her eyes speaking of unpleasant things to come in the near future. "I regret to impose upon your glorious last stand, but you should get your men out of this place, Captain. Rei will show you the way."

"I-I shall?"

"Yes. The transfer system is operational once more, but for how long I don't know," the words spoken by Yui sounded foreign to everyone else, but Rei nodded, seemingly understanding the message. "Go, quickly. We'll cover your retreat and join you promptly."

The Lady of Akuro then turned her attention towards the cyclopean knight.

"Identify target," she commanded, and the giant fixated its crimson eye on the second colossus in the room. "Engage. Try to minimize damage sustained."

And then it was off, leaping like a tiger onto its prey and crashing into it with a slamming sound that only two gargantuan beings could have properly pulled off. With jerky but effective movements the cyclopean giant started to pummel its foe into submission, pushing it back with punch after heavy punch onto its eye-filled shell, and looking to confine it back into its cell; Matarael, lacking space to properly manoeuvre its body for offence and unable to mount a proper defence, could offer little in the ways of resistance.

Further down, at the feet of the two colossal beings, most of the militia cheered and hollered in support of their newfound champion while their young liege stared stupefied at the figure of her mother, still calmly observing the ensuing clash with an analytical eye. Only Hikari's prodding and gentle commands seemed to be capable of spurring any action from the shocked bluenette, much to the young Horaki's consternation.

But what had initially looked like a one-sided battle in favour of the new arrival quickly started to turn around. The knight's movements started to lose a lot of their power, a lot of their speed, impacts that had made Matarael flinch before turning into harmless taps against its shell before long.

And eventually, the giant stopped moving at all. Its head, back and arms all slumped forward, and in its inert state, the cyclops looked like a marionette that had had its strings cut.

Seizing the opportunity, Matarael pushed the orange knight down to the ground and pinned it under its body by the use of its long legs, which promptly proved to be every bit as sharp and dangerous as those of its kin. Following that, a hateful and familiar amber goo started to drop off its lowest eye in massive quantities, quickly spilling onto the fallen giant and a great part of the surrounding area.

The dreaded sizzling sound quickly enveloped the room, as more and more liquid dropped like some kind of twisted tears, decomposing everything it touched.

Panic quickly set in amongst the troops on the ground once more at the sight, and Misato redoubled her evacuation efforts. Soldiers streamed by Yui's position, running past the destroyed door and towards safety, but the Lady didn't move a single step. Her narrowed eyes were still drawn to the battle, the woman clearly not satisfied with its conclusion.

"...I feared such a development," she muttered to herself, too quietly in the surrounding chaos for anyone to understand. "The efficiency of the Dummy system is clearly still in severe decline."

The woman then closed her eyes and sighed in vexation before she threw her arms to the side, in much the same manner as her daughter had done moments before. Right after, the ambience of the entire chamber shifted slightly into something else, every non-magically attuned human being able to instinctively sense a change in their surroundings but being unable to identify _what_.

Rei, for her part, very much did.

"There are no further options, then; this is a less than ideal recourse, but I have no choice but to involve myself."

An immense amount of mana quickly gathered around the woman's arms, dense enough to both be almost visible with the naked eye, and cause some fairly severe enfeeblement on those closest to her. Yui wasted no time in making good use of the gathered power, swiftly moving through the chanting and requirements of her chosen spell with a speed and efficiency that her scion and pupil couldn't hope to match.

A daughter that broke Yui's concentration for the shortest of instants in the most uncharacteristic of ways.

" _MOTHER!_ " Rei shouted, panic in her voice. " _DON'T!_ "

But the bluenette's efforts proved to be too little, too late.

Her foci and the better part of her spell already active, Yui had no choice but to go on with the cast. Nevertheless, and as the chosen energies used her body to intermingle with her own, ready to be unleashed in the manner of her choice, the elder Ikari managed to shift some of her attention towards whatever had managed to bring such an uncommon reaction out of her daughter.

Enough to barely catch sight of a mop of red hair lifelessly fall to the ground, the head that it was attached to hitting the floor with a sickening crack.

And Yui Ikari's eyes widened.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's a wrap for Chapter 5. As always, thoughts and constructive criticism are welcome, but even a one-line comment if you've managed to withstand my nonsense for this long are helpful in keeping a guy going, dear reader.

See you in the next one.


	10. Revelations

**A/N: It's been a while since the last time, and I've got work and a lack of a proper amount of time to sit down and write to thank for it. It doesn't help that I'm not the fastest writer in the block, either; Nevertheless, no, I'm not dead and neither is this story.**

 **Still, the last update was back in January, which kinda shocked me when I actually went to update this. Time sure does fly, but I'll try my best not to take two months and a half on the next update.**

 **Special thanks go to Strypgia, MisterHalt and Ranma-Sensei for their counsel and timely checking, and to Dragonjek for taking the time to review the last chapter. But without further ado, on with the show.**

* * *

The first thing that caught her attention was the music.

Powerful, loud and vibrant, composed with a kind of heavy percussion that was far harsher on the senses than any drum. The melody that was struck was simple and repetitive, hitting the same three notes over and over and over again with very little variation.

Her vision came to, and she found an obsidian wall all around her.

No, not a wall; rather, a shadowy barrier with holes in it. Holes that slowly became wider and wider, until the surrounding shadow began to take shape, turning into tens of vaguely humanoid figures.

Their heads, arms and legs moved in time with the music, as if they were dancing. They slowly circled around her in tireless activity, always keeping her at the centre of their congregation but paying her no further mind.

Her own arms and legs were bound to some sort of vertical pole, but she didn't try to break free.

...

She felt no desire to do so.

From behind, the crimson cloth that covered her body was delicately removed, and her field of vision veered downwards, far enough to determine a severe lack of clothing on her.

...

She didn't care.

Meanwhile, the shadows kept on obeying the music's commands, howling as they came closer and screeching as they ran away.

She suddenly blinked, and the world shifted.

...

Eight robed shadows had now joined her, surrounded her within the inner circle that had formed, while the music faded away into a more lethargic cadence. Their clothing shared a palette with the one that she'd had, and gleaming, silver masks covered their faces.

As one, they took out ornate and identical daggers. They then began to circle her in the opposite direction of the outer circle, slowly, very slowly, coming closer and closer.

Until one of them stopped directly in front of her, and pointed their dagger at her neck.

...

She felt no fear.

The outlying shadows took on a golden hue, and their dance intensified. The rhythmic percussion assaulted her senses once more.

The blade before her remained immobile, but not for long. It moved upwards, and the masked one made a small incision on her forehead.

From the sides, two others performed four more cuts, along her shoulders and wrists. The back of her thighs and feet were slit, as well.

Finally, the first dagger moved southwards from its position. It passed between her eyes, over her nose, mouth and chin. It continued on until it arrived at her abdomen, where one, final, incision was made.

...

The blade was pulled back, before it was then thrust into her collarbone.

Fire ran through her body, and the world shifted once more.

...

Everything around her fell into eerie silence.

The masked shadows no longer flanked her, and the ones that had been dancing further away had now fallen onto all fours, their heads kept down. They remained unmoving, almost deathly so.

Her vision veered downwards. A small, black symbol had appeared on the flesh just below her neck.

She blinked, and then saw her chest covered in obsidian tone; she did so once more, and it was her entire torso and arms that were suddenly blanketed.

...

She blinked one final time, and saw only black.

-]LotF[-

Asuka awoke with a start, eyes wide and barely holding back a scream.

Her upper body shot up from where she had previously been lying, and she looked around her frantically, with unfocused eyes that had clearly spent a long time without being in use. Different shapes and forms blurred together in an unrecognizable mess, and a hellish ringing reverberated inside her ears, turning the otherwise simple act of keeping her eyes open into a veritable test of her endurance.

Through her failing senses Asuka could tell that she wasn't alone, the far-away echoes of voices barely managing to make it through the ringing. The brush of her feet against something soft also told her that she was probably on a bed of some sort, both facts that would have probably served to ease her worries had Asuka been in any way capable of rational thought at the time.

Four hands firmly grabbing her shoulders and trying to push her back down didn't help in alleviating the redhead's bout of panic.

Asuka fought back out of pure instinct, lashing out and striking everything within range with as much strength as she could muster and managing to hold off the attacking limbs with surprising effectiveness; but eventually a strong feeling of nausea and intense, fiery, pain overcame her, and the young woman could do little to prevent the hands from pushing her onto her back once more. Eclipsing the already overwhelming ache that afflicted her body, the inside of her head felt as if a million angry people were stabbing white-hot irons into her brain from both outside _and inside_.

Needless to say, the sensation was far from comfortable. Asuka's eyes closed shut almost immediately and, although she wasn't able to tell through her failing ears, she was certain that she must have been screaming her lungs out in agony.

It was in the midst of it all that the redhead's mouth was forced open, and _something_ pressed inside of it. It was spherical and the size of a fairly sizable bite of meat, but _way_ too hard for it to be meant to be consumed, as her teeth quickly found out.

Whoever had forced it on her didn't seem to mind that fact, however. They were adamant about Asuka ingesting the thing in her mouth, completely ignoring the young woman's weak protests and attempts at breaking free.

Asuka's eyes shot open again, and her blurry perception became dominated by a big spot of brown.

"Don't fight and swallow it whole. It'll help against the pain," the blot commanded, before speaking away from her. "Ko-chan, hand me the water, please."

A shuffle of hands and the sound of a person reaching for something, before a cup was pressed against her lips and water started to flow inside; normally, Asuka's dry mouth would have welcomed the refreshing relief that the liquid provided (and it still did, to some extent), but her feelings on the matter were vastly overshadowed by the imposition that she was being subjected to.

In spite of the redhead's best efforts, the foreign sphere inside her mouth ended up making its way towards her throat with the help of gravity, and she had no choice but to swallow or risk choking on it. It was a tight and somewhat painful fit for her sore gullet but the ball still managed to go through, and the uncomfortable sensation that it caused her was honestly nothing when compared to the pain every single other part of her body was in.

The very moment that she complied the hold on her shoulders lessened, shifting from tight and controlling towards gentle and comforting, a change that Asuka was more than happy about as she distinctly felt the object that she'd been forced to swallow travel through her oesophagus and into her stomach.

The darned sphere didn't seem to do much of anything at first but, before long, the voice's words started to ring true as a warm sensation began to spread from the pit of her stomach and outwards. It was slow and weak at first, but quickly started to gain in intensity, reaching far into every corner of her body and bringing her convulsions and anguish to a stop wherever it passed, leaving instead a blissful feeling of relaxation, not unlike the one that Hikari had produced a few times before.

Soon, the loud ringing within her ears stopped. Shortly after, her thundering headache turned into a pulsating but much more manageable pain. She still felt sick in her stomach, but the nausea probably wasn't enough to topple her anymore.

Not that the final point mattered, though, as in the wake of her pain's relief, the young woman could feel a sudden need for sleep start to claim her. Little by little her breathing relaxed and her eyelids fell, as her painful and momentary bout of consciousness started to give way to slumber once more.

Witnessing her reaction, one of the pairs of hands that held Asuka in place momentarily let go of her shoulders. A soft rustle later, and the redhead could feel something cold and soothing travel along her cheeks and neck, before being firmly pressed against her forehead.

Curious, Asuka managed to focus on her vision enough for it to clear slightly, and afford her a better, if brief, view of the details before her. Among them, chief was the face of the person that was softly caressing her face, and gently cleaning her sweaty face with a wet cloth.

She looked like an older Rei, had the girl been capable of smiling, and the look on her face was a familiar one. One that told the young woman without any need for words that everything would be all right, and an expression that quickly brought back memories of better times to the forefront of Asuka's feverish mind.

 _'That looks l-like... Like M-Mama's?'_

And with thought, she fell back down into blessed unconsciousness.

-]LotF[-

The second time Asuka opened her eyes, it was to heavy shaking; heavy shaking and someone screaming right to her face.

"Asuka! ASUKA! _ASUKA!_ "

More out of deeply ingrained combat instincts than anything else, Asuka quickly snapped her eyes fully open and pushed away the offending voice, before hastily and efficiently rising to her feet without a single wasted movement.

A manoeuvre that she managed to carry out with surprising ease, she realised. All of the aches that she remembered plaguing her body before seemed to be just _gone_ , for some reason.

...Which was a more than welcome development, as far as the redhead was concerned.

Nevertheless, and still focusing too much on her training to question the less important issues of a missing ail, Asuka promptly turned her attention to the spot where she had thrust whatever it was that had just been on top of her. The spot from where a small, surprised, grunt reached her ears...

...and the spot from where a little girl was now rising back to her feet, under the hawkish gaze of an uncomprehending Asuka.

"...What the...?"

The little girl in front of her had shaggy shoulder-length red hair, much like her own albeit far darker in tone, close enough to almost be called auburn. A pair of greenish-brown eyes stared upwards at Asuka's blue and, despite having just been rudely shoved backwards and being subjected to an icy stare that would have spooked grown men, a wide smile still parted a thin face that met all of the requirements for belonging to a child.

The girl wore a familiar-looking red dress made of wool, of the sort meant for young children to wear, and her legs and feet were bare. There were no other accessories on her that Asuka could make out, either, strongly suggesting that the woollen cloth was the only item in the girl's possession.

She was also no one that Asuka recalled ever having met, which is why the taller redhead was quick to step back when the child tried to approach her.

"Who're you?!" the redhead demanded, before taking a quick look around her. Adding to the young woman's confusion, a nondescript ivory whiteness surrounded her as far as she could see, completely empty save for the ground, which was akin to white marble. "And where the hell am I now?!"

"It's me, Asuka!" the little girl happily exclaimed, jumping into her field of vision once more. "Maisie!"

Asuka's body stopped its searching as if it had suddenly been covered in ice. She then slowly turned to throw a wide-eyed stare at the smiling child.

"...What."

"I'm _so_ happy that you woke up! I-I was really worried for a moment there, you know?" the little girl continued, missing Asuka's reaction and running over to hug her. "I shook you and called out a lot of times but-"

The young girl cut herself off when Asuka forcefully allowed some air to come between them. Confused, the smaller one of the two made to ask her counterpart what was wrong...

...but her non-spoken words were replaced with howling laughter when Asuka mercilessly sunk her fingers into the girl's sides and belly.

"S-Stop that, Asuka!" the small redhead managed between snorts. "That tickles!"

Asuka complied with the child's demands, stopping in her tickling just as suddenly as she had started. Going one step further, the redhead then let go of the girl as if she was on fire, turning the little one's mirth into confusion.

"...Asuka?"

"W-What's going on here?" Asuka muttered, her voice betraying a noticeable anxiousness. "You're just a figment of my imagination Maisie, we established that, remember? You're not supposed to have a body, let alone be _ticklish_!" a less than pleasing possible explanation suddenly made it to the taller redhead's mind, turning her expression sour. "Unless I've seriously gone off the deep end, or something."

Asuka's words finally seemed to shake the girl off of her happiness induced trance, and the little redhead refrained from trying to force her way into her arms for a third time. Instead, her expression turned into a mimicry of Asuka's, her eyes looking at the barren landscape around them.

"I-I don't know what happened or w-where this is. I don't remember any changes from before. I just suddenly... _was_ here, but I don't remember _how_." Clearly struggling to remember something, the child's face crumpled at the edges of her eyes. "I c-called and called like I usually do but you didn't answer, so then I started to explore a bit, b-but it was all the same! And one of the times I turned around you were just- just _there_! But you didn't answer, and I shook you but it didn't do _anything,_ so I got s-scared and tried harder but-!"

Quickly identifying the speech patterns of a _very_ familiar weeping phenomenon, the taller redhead decided to literally take matters into her own hands.

"Okay, okay, I get it! Sheesh! You're Maisie, all right, if I needed anymore confirmation." Asuka hurriedly knelt down and embraced the little girl tightly, if a bit awkwardly. Maisie returned the gesture with no reservations. "Clearly you know as little about what's going on as I do, so just calm down, will you? I'm all right and you're all right. We'll figure everything else out in time."

Massaging the little girl's back and neck while holding her tight proved to be enough to accomplish Asuka's objectives, because while she was sobbing, at least Maisie wasn't openly crying. And Asuka would pat herself on the back for that sort of success in the weeping department any day of the week.

But, much to the taller redhead's chagrin and fading feeling of accomplishment, Maisie felt the need to live up to her cry-baby reputation, anyway. It took what felt like an eternity for Maisie's quiet sobs to finally become rare enough for Asuka to venture a tentative separation.

"Better now?"

Asuka could feel the little girl nod her head against her shoulder. She stubbornly refused to let go, though.

Foreseeing that she was going to be stuck like that for a while, Asuka made a face. She then decided that she might as well try and make sense of the situation while she was at it.

It didn't take Asuka long to make her first breakthrough in the baffling circumstances.

"Now that I think about it, you sound a bit different."

"D-Different?"

"Yeah, that must be why I didn't recognize your voice at first," Asuka reasoned, staring at Maisie like an interesting puzzle. "It's kinda hard to put my finger on it, but you sound... _older_ , somehow?"

"Older? I-I don't know..."

"Yeah, I think you do; in any case, let's leave the matter of your voice and sudden appearance for another time. You're Maisie and that's all that matters right now," staying true to her words, Asuka shifted the focus of her deliberations to more important stuff. Namely, her current location and situation. "...I wonder... Could all this be happening because of my Blue intolerance?"

"...Your what?"

"You know. That thing about me not having mana resistance that she mentioned," the taller redhead elaborated. "She did hit me with a pretty bad case of it when we were inside that prison, and..."

Noticing by her wide-eyed expression that her friend wasn't following her, Asuka's explanation trailed off into silence.

"...You don't remember that?"

Keeping her clueless face, Maisie slowly shook her head from side to side.

"That's weird," the young woman's brow creased, as she tried to make sense of such a development. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Mmm..." the short redhead put her head between her hands and closed her eyes tightly, making a big show of trying to recall her memories. "Oh! I told you a number, and I guessed right!"

"The combination for that weird door?" Asuka mused loudly. "But a lot of stuff happened afterwards. You don't recall any of it?"

"Really?" Maisie tilted her head cutely to the side and tried to remember something more, but she quickly gave up. "N-No, I don't remember anything else... I'm sorry."

"Oh well, whatever. It's probably not important, anyway."

 _'And it's probably a good thing that a little kid didn't end up hearing all that stuff too, I guess,'_ Asuka considered. _'Huh. I wonder if Maisie can have nightmares?'_

"Hey..." Maisie's usually cowed words, and the relaxing of her vise-like grip brought the taller redhead out of her musings. Something over Asuka's shoulder seemed to have grabbed the little one's attention. "W-What's that over there?"

Making excellent use of the opportunity that the distracted Maisie had just provided her with, Asuka managed to quickly extricate herself from the girl's grip before she had a chance to reinforce it. She'd half expected that her friend would audibly whine the moment she realised that she'd been had, but funnily (or worryingly) enough no such thing came to pass.

Now _really_ curious, Asuka turned around.

And what she found was a small construction in the distance, built of what looked to be the same material that coated the ground. Within an area guarded by four tall and classical-looking pillars, some sort of white furniture lay in the open. It was too far away to properly tell exactly what the items were, but one of them looked suspiciously like an oversized bookcase to Asuka.

 _'Not that magically appearing furniture makes much sense, but I guess that logic went out the window a while ago.'_

"...How should I know?" the young woman voiced, narrowing her eyes in annoyance at the latest development. "I'm positive that it wasn't there before, though."

"No, you're right, Asuka. T-That wasn't there before..." Maisie replied, clearly confused.

"Good to know that I'm not imagining things. Then, if you're feeling better, I say that we get moving," leading by example, Asuka started to confidently stride forward towards the mysterious area. "Fortune favours the bold, and that's looking like an invitation to me. I think that I'm overdue some answers by now."

Staring in wonder at the ivory pillars like she was, it took Maisie a moment to turn back towards her friend. A friend that was quite a few steps away from her, already.

"Eh?! W-Wait for me!"

Her tiny legs quickly taking off in pursuit, it didn't take the little girl long to catch up to Asuka. The moment Maisie was beside her friend, she quickly slipped her right hand around her left, tightly latching onto it.

The redhead's entire body immediately stiffened in response and came to a stop, much to Maisie's confusion.

"What's wrong, Asuka?"

Rather than answering, Asuka stared at their physical connection with a look that bordered on shock for a few moments. She then shook her head and shot Maisie a small smile, before locking her eyes forward once more.

"...It's nothing," the taller woman deflected. "Don't let go, okay? I've got to keep an eye on you."

Smiling herself, Maisie tightened her hold slightly and nodded her head enthusiastically, keeping pace with Asuka's long strides without a word of protest.

Unfortunately for the both of them, the landmark they were heading towards seemed to be much further away than they had initially expected. A few minutes of walking had yielded little reward and, while they _were_ making progress, Asuka calculated that they had already trekked long enough to cover the distance three times over, much to her chagrin.

There was clearly some sort of foul play at hand, but what it was she obviously couldn't tell.

Maisie, for her part, had been content with following along and trying to spot any other sudden landmarks for the first half of the trip, but had since grown bored of it. The little girl then decided to occupy herself with covertly looking Asuka all over, and failing spectacularly at it.

"What are you looking at?", Asuka asked her friend, amused.

"Nothing!"

"Yeah, right. I'd buy that if you were looking pretty much _anywhere_ else, Maisie. Out with it, is there something on my face?"

"N-No. It's just..." Maisie turned to look back at her friend, smiling shyly. "You're so pretty, Asuka."

"...That came out of nowhere," the taller redhead blinked in surprise. "What's with the sudden compliment, Maisie? I'm as I've always-" Asuka cut herself off mid-sentence, the realisation of a recently apparent fact coming to her mind. "...Oh, right. I guess you've never seen _me_ , either."

Smiling broadly, the child shook her head in the negative.

"Hold on a moment, then. How'd you know it was me that you were trying to wake up?"

"That's because you kept muttering about 'Mama' before I started to shake you, Asuka."

"...Oh." Asuka's expression turned sombre for a fleeting instant, but the young woman quickly forced herself to push through her worries. "Okay then. I guess there weren't a lot of possibilities out there, anyway."

Maisie good-naturedly voiced her agreement with that statement and the two of them continued on, hand in hand and in amiable silence. Progress, however, remained as slow as it had been before, to the point of seriously starting to grate on Asuka's nerves.

She had managed to hold on to her temper for so long by pure virtue of Maisie being right next to her but, in light of the situation, her friend's presence was quickly starting to lose a lot of its appeasing power.

Thankfully for them both, Maisie chose just that moment to rekindle their conversation.

"What do you think that this is, Asuka?"

"No idea," the taller redhead responded, allowing her eyes to roam the desolate ivory landscape one more time. "Last thing I remember is falling asleep on some sort of bed, and it's not like I was in any shape to have gone anywhere. This could all be just a weird dream I'm having for all I know."

"...I-I don't think that I'm dreaming, Asuka," the little girl tightened her grip on Asuka's left hand, as if looking to prove her point.

"Well... To be honest, I don't think so, either. It would be one hell of a realistic dream if that was the case, and I haven't had one of _those_ in a long while; hopefully we can find out what's going on and get everything back in order." Asuka turned her focus back towards their current target and narrowed her eyes in aggravation. "Once we manage to get to that damn place, anyway."

Unseen to Asuka, her young friend's face saddened at her words. Slowly but surely, the little girl's feet sagged and she began to lag behind, her pace now dependent almost completely on Asuka tugging on her hand.

The taller redhead failed to notice both Maisie's troubled expression and her lack of cooperation, focused on marching briskly as she was. Up until, eventually, Maisie gathered enough courage to speak up.

"...I don't want to go back to how we were before, Asuka..."

In spite of all her preparation, Maisie's words could have been compared in volume to the squeak of a little mouse, but they had, nevertheless, no trouble at all in reaching the ears of her friend. Maisie could tell by the way in which Asuka suddenly stopped her charge forward, the look on her face being one of surprise.

"Huh? Why's that?" Asuka questioned, her eyes jumping to the girl by her side. "Isn't that how we've always been?"

"...Well, yes, but... But it was so dark, and the only thing I could do was listen and talk to you..." Maisie's melancholy then shifted in tone, gaining a bit of cheer and intensity. "It's weird, but I... I t-think I like this better. I like seeing and having a body, and I don't think here is dangerous."

"I wouldn't call this place 'not dangerous' just yet, but I guess I can agree on everything else. Maybe we can find a way to get me back to where I'm supposed to be while keeping all your newfound abilities?"

"I guess, but..." the voice of the little redhead went down to the volume of a light breeze once more. "...Do you have to go?"

"What do you mean, Maisie? We're heroines, remember? Of course I have to go!"

"I-It's just-" Maisie let go of her friend's hand and stopped walking. She could feel her cheeks burning hot as she directed her gaze towards her unmoving feet. "...I like that Asuka is here now, too..."

The little girl's small ears could make out a pair of legs shuffling to a stop slightly ahead of her. Feeling a small surge of bravery at the fact that she must have had Asuka's attention, Maisie continued on.

"I-If we find a way to go back to normal, can you stay for a little while more? I don't want to be alone..."

Maisie had expected many and varied results out of her small confession, some far more preferable than others. Chief among them, however (and much to the girl's sorrow), was Asuka telling her to stop being childish and get a move on.

But, surprisingly, neither the most likely scenario nor any of the others her youthful mind had concocted came to pass.

Instead, all the answer the little girl received was a heavy silence.

"...Asuka?" Maisie tested, eyes still glued to the ground. "A-Are you angry?"

Once more, no response.

Now more than slightly fearful that she had somehow managed to set off her friend's infamously short temper, Maisie slowly and tentatively brought her head back up, expecting a light slap at the back of it at any moment.

But no such thing came, and the reason why became crystal clear the moment Maisie's eyes finished their journey.

Because just like that, and with no warning whatsoever, her old friend was nowhere to be found.

"A-Asuka!" the little redhead cried out, desperately looking all around her. "ASUKA! _ASUKA!_ "

But even though Maisie's voice travelled far into the distance without interruption, no answer came.

She was alone.

"No way..." the girl breathed out, feeling the beginning of fresh tears coming up. "What happened? W-Where did Asuka go?!"

Without any need for additional input, Maisie's imagination kicked into overdrive, thinking of terrible scenarios that would explain the situation one after another; had her friend somehow found a way out and left Maisie behind or, even more terrifyingly...

...had something happened to Asuka?

"Sh-She's all right, she's all right. She's _got_ to be all right." Maisie encouraged herself, shaking her head to rid herself of the unwanted thought. "Y-You wouldn't be here if she wasn't all right!"

The small redhead paused for a moment, thinking her theory over for a few seconds.

"...I-I _think_..."

Her tear-filled eyes found their mark in the construction in the distance, a construction that she could _swear_ looked somehow bigger than the last time she had laid eyes on it.

The little one wasn't sure whether she should thankful or dread that fact.

"W-Well..." the little girl did her best to control her sniffles and gulped audibly, hard enough that she almost heard the noise echo. "F-Fortune favours t-the bold, right?"

And with unsteady steps, Maisie slowly made her way forward.

-]LotF[-

The third time Asuka awoke, it was to a familiar ceiling. Wooden supporting beams crossed her vision from side to side, and a pair of unlit paper lanterns hung from them, dancing slightly to the tune of a light breeze; this was a sight that had greeted the redhead quite a few times as of late.

She was in a room, Asuka quickly realised. _Her_ room.

Or the room that she had been assigned during her stay in Akuro, anyway.

As the young woman blinked her way towards full consciousness, vague flashes of a dream quickly flew through her mind. Each subsequent batting of her eyes further erased those fading memories, however, until only the fleeting recollection of a white expanse and a little girl remained.

Soon enough, not even those two images were deemed important enough for her roused mind to dwell on.

 _'Just a weird dream.'_ The redhead quickly decided, dismissing the remnants of her dream in favour of other ideas almost instantly. After all, she'd always had a... _special_ relationship with the realm of Morpheus, so it wasn't like a bizarre dream every now and again was worthy of too much of her attention; Asuka was sure that some of those people who interpreted dreams for a living would have had a field day with this last one, though.

Not that she'd ever put any stock into that hogwash whatsoever. Still, bizarre and hard to interpret was far preferable to some of the other stuff her dreaming mind had concocted during the years.

"Maisie?" Asuka weakly whispered as she tried to push herself up from the comfort of her bed, her voice coming out hoarse. "Are you there?"

No answer came, to Asuka's slight surprise. She'd half expected Maisie to be expectant of her waking up, as she often was, but it looked like her friend was being a bit of a sleepyhead herself this time around.

The young woman's words, however, were unexpectedly successful in earning the attention of someone else.

"Oh. It looks like she's finally awake."

Asuka's eyes swiftly changed targets and a middle-aged brunette woman entered her field of vision. She sported a gentle smile and a somewhat worried flicker to her cobalt, blue eyes, as she sat on a chair a pair of steps away from her bed, an open book in her hands. The woman carefully put down the manuscript that she'd been reading (a book by one Viktor P. Valshanaar that Asuka recognized as having been on her room's shelves) before standing up and walking towards the edge of the redhead's bed.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," the woman said, helping the struggling foreigner rise up into a sitting position. "Do you feel better now, Sohryu-san?"

"Who are-?" Before she could say anything more, the redhead doubled over in pain, tightly clutching at her head. "Argh! Dammit, I've got the mother of all headaches..."

Eyes shut tight, Asuka started to massage her head in an attempt to assuage the pain as much as she could. Her efforts were far from fruitful but, the moment her hands made their way to the top of her head, a new discovery made the young woman momentarily forget about the pounding within her skull:

There was a pair of _something_ on her hair, something that she certainly didn't remember being there before. A tentative caress with her fingers revealed that they felt hard and smooth to the touch. Conical in shape.

The light smacking of a rope against her face at the motion also revealed her hands to be tightly bound together, for some reason.

"W-What the-?!" Asuka exclaimed, staring in shock at her hands and the thick cord of fabric that shackled them together. "Why am I cuffed?!"

"Calm yourself down, Sohryu-san," the woman spoke, putting a comforting hand on Asuka's shoulder. "There's a good reason for your bondage, I assure you."

A hand that was quickly swiped away by an angry redhead.

"Oh, yeah?! I'd _love_ to hear it, then!"

"I'm afraid that said reason pales in comparison to the much more important matter of your health, my dear. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," Asuka bit out, glaring at the stranger beside her as strongly as she could. "And worse than I'd be feeling if my hands were free, that's for sure."

The woman stepped back and allowed Asuka some more breathing room. Her actions were not born out of any feeling of intimidation, though, as the older brunette merely giggled and raised an eyebrow in amusement at Asuka's fury.

"So you claim, but I'd say that your brazen words and actions are a marked improvement over the last time that you woke up."

The woman's words gave Asuka pause. A part of what she'd said had made the redhead's instincts flare up in response, clearly signalling the young woman that she was missing something. Something important.

 _'...The last time?'_ Asuka mused, searching her memories and managing to recall bits and pieces of a time past. _'Oh, right. I think I remember waking up and someone being there.'_

Slowly, very slowly, Asuka took in the features of the woman before her, mostly focusing her attention on the short hair and how the brown strands framed the person's face. She also carefully inspected the bridge of her nose, the spacing between her eyes, and the overall structure of her countenance, as a sinking feeling of familiarity and déjà vu quickly gained ground the more that Asuka looked.

It didn't take the redhead long to remember just who the woman in front of her reminded her of. And, more importantly, what social standing said young woman held.

All of her fury vanished in an instant, her realisation leaving Asuka with a terrifying feeling of impending doom, instead.

"...Who are you, again?", Asuka questioned, her words ringing slightly hollow to her ears.

"I'm Yui Ikari, ruling Lady of Akuro," the woman responded, smiling gleefully but somehow managing to bring chills down the redhead's spine. "Surely you've heard of me by now?"

"...Crap." Asuka muttered under her breath, fighting hard not to make a face at her mess-up. Her head fell down into the most respectful bow that she could muster soon after. "I'm sorry, your Highness! I didn't know!"

 _'Stupid, stupid, stupid! You and your big mouth!'_ the redhead mentally berated herself, waiting the ensuing long seconds of silence without daring to move in the slightest. _'Why do you_ always _speak without thinking, Asuka?! The actual ruler of the town you're staying in is the_ last _person that you want to piss off right now!'_

And Asuka had good reason to mentally kick herself, as far as she was concerned. After all, the woman knew her by name, so the idea of Ikari being aware of her past less-than-ideal brushes with Blue wasn't at all out of the question. If so, her latest lack of proper respect could easily become the straw that broke the camel's back.

...Especially if the woman turned out to be _anything_ like her daughter.

But much to Asuka's good fortune, the mother seemed to be much more tolerant than her nemesis.

"It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about the pleasantries for the moment, dear." The Lady of Akuro giggled once more, putting a hand on Asuka's shoulder and wordlessly asking her to straighten up. "I didn't expect you to be fully cognizant of your surroundings after such a painful and disorienting awakening. Besides, I'm more interested in your full recovery at this time."

When the young woman rose her eyes from the floor, she found Yui smiling gently at her. Not really knowing what to say in response, Asuka averted her gaze to the side.

 _'That was... unexpected.'_

"Thank you, your Highness," the redhead eventually managed, fighting through her speechlessness after a few seconds. "You are... most generous."

"Think nothing of it. And do let me know post-haste if you start feeling uncomfortable," the Lady kindly commanded, before breaking contact and walking over towards her chair, sitting down once again. "Now, since we have established that your health has markedly improved, I can only imagine that you have many a question plaguing your mind at this time. Am I correct in thinking so, young lady?"

Asuka wordlessly nodded her head. Yui's smile grew wider in response.

"Well then, it would be my pleasure to answer them as well as I am able, Sohryu-san."

Without missing a beat, Asuka's eyes jumped to the rope binding her wrists together.

"Except for that," Yui softly interrupted the unasked question. "The current state of your hands is no doubt going to be a long topic, so why don't we save that for last?"

The side of Asuka's face that was hidden from Yui crumpled in annoyance at the sudden correction. She was further aggravated by the knowledge that she could do little to influence the decision.

"...As you wish, your Highness," the redhead sighed inwardly and did her best to calm down. She then pointed a finger towards the foreign additions to her head. "Well, I guess we can start with these things on my hair, then?"

"Of course, my dear," Yui agreed with a placating smile. "Those hairclips are meant to help with your lack of resistance to foreign mana, a problem that I hear is causing you no small amount of grief. They are full to the brim with my mana and, even if it might be a slightly brutish way of tackling the problem, I can assure you that they won't be harmful to your person in any way. Please don't take them off for the time being."

"They contain mana?" Asuka parroted, turning the information around in her head. "Is that why my head is hurting so much?"

"To an extent, yes. Foreign mana can be nothing short of toxic if absorbed in high quantities by an unprepared person, as you are no doubt aware of by now," the redhead's troubled expression very much confirmed Yui's words. "An unprepared body, however, can be made to gradually accept a mana flow if exposed to small amounts of it over an extended period of time. Providing a gradually increasing mana flow is the purpose of those hairclips, and they also happen to be a fairly elegant accessory at the same time!"

Asuka blinked in surprise at the Lady's sudden shift of tone, seeing as it had unexpectedly gone from lecturing to lively. The sight of Yui suddenly falling into a fit of giggles as if she had just told a good joke didn't help matters, either.

Probably because Asuka couldn't help herself from picturing Rei doing the same thing, due to the uncanny resemblance between the two.

 _'And my brain just can't handle it. I mean, it's Blue smiling and freaking_ giggling _, that's gotta be up there with staring first-hand at Fell beasts of the Abyss or something.'_

"Yeah... I'll reserve judgment on these things until I can see myself in a mirror," Asuka spoke out loud, shaking her head to rid it of the disturbing thoughts going through it. "Anyway, long story short: the mana thing works kinda like building up a resistance to sickness, then? I guess that makes sense if it does."

"That is indeed a fairly apt comparison, especially for someone unknowing of the ways of magic." Yui nodded, a note of praise to her voice. The redhead visibly puffed her chest a little at the commendation, much to the woman's amusement. "That said, I'm afraid that you'll have to withstand some minor uneasiness for some time, Sohryu-san, but the worst part of the pain should be almost gone considering that you've been wearing the hairclips for the last three days. Your body should be getting used to the changes by now, and-"

"Wait! T-Three days?! I've been asleep for _three whole days_?!" Asuka cut in disbelievingly, almost jumping out of the bed.

"I'm afraid that you have," the brunette confirmed with a sad smile, standing back up and walking over to Asuka. "Your condition wasn't at all good when we arrived back at the castle, dear. It's no exaggeration to say that you teetered between life and death for the entirety of the first day."

"...Oh, wow," Asuka softly commented, more than a bit unnerved by the news of her near demise. "No wonder I feel like shit, then."

"Quite," Yui agreed. She then put a comforting hand on top of Asuka's head, before continuing on. "However, and at risk of dwelling further on this dreadful topic, I must ask you to make an effort, dear. What's your last memory before waking up?"

"My last memory?" Asuka's forehead creased as she both tried to recall what had been requested of her, and expressed some covert annoyance at being pet like a child.

The redhead made no actual effort to shy away from the hand, though.

"Well... That would be watching... I think it was _you_ and that giant orange thing save the day. I was sorta out of it, but I remember that much," Asuka recounted, before her expression became troubled once more. "Oh, and the pain, of course, hard to forget your whole body burning up from inside, really. Worst thing I've ever felt."

A deep sigh escaped through Yui's lips and the older woman slowly made her way back to the chair with heavy steps. Once there, she sat down to face Asuka one more time, but her countenance was a far cry from the kind and welcoming visage that she had been showing until then.

Her expression was now one of forlorn regret, eyes downcast and all previous traces of a smile completely gone; it reminded Asuka of the worst moments of a certain idiot, much to the girl's chagrin. Clearly, Blue wasn't the only one who took after her mother.

"I must apologize for that, Sohryu-san," Yui eventually spoke, adding in a small bow of her head to the words and promptly shocking Asuka out of her musings. "I was unaware of both your presence and lack of resistance at the time. And even if the situation might have demanded my actions, that doesn't excuse the fact that I came dangerously close to killing you; still, I'm afraid that your current soreness isn't only due to my own efforts, dear."

Yui's last words brought a confused look to Asuka's face, but the woman offered no time for interruptions, fixating a somewhat inquisitive stare on the girl.

"But I must insist: do you not remember _anything_ else, apart from what you've just told me?"

"Not really. I must have blacked out from the pain." Asuka shook her head in the negative, after giving the question some thought. The redhead's eyes then widened, her mind focusing on a detail she didn't know about just yet. "Wait, are the others all right?!"

"There were no further fatalities after my entrance, Sohryu-san," the Lady responded, smiling thinly. "You can rest easy knowing that yours was undoubtedly the most critical of the conditions among the survivors. Rei, who was arguably your only competition, was on her feet after a full day's rest."

At the news, the young foreigner let out a deep breath that she didn't realise she'd been holding. She then brought a hand to awkwardly scratch at the back of her head, somewhat ashamed.

"Well... I guess I should have started with that one. But it's good to know that everyone's fine, anyway."

"That's a feeling shared by everyone at the castle, my dear." Yui smiled back in agreement. "They were also overjoyed to hear that you managed to push through your first day of recovery, as well."

"...R-Really?"

"Really. There was quite a crowd of worried people flocking to the door during the first hours of treatment, as a matter of fact. A steady supply of visitors have been taking turns with keeping watch over you since then, too. It's actually quite the ironic coincidence that you chose the one moment in which none of them are here to wake up!"

The Lady of Akuro lost herself in her mirth after that, leaving a contemplative redhead to acknowledge her words. To say that Asuka was surprised at their content would be putting it mildly.

...Her brush with Death must truly have been something to behold if it managed to worry the most opinionated members of the militia. Or maybe Akuro was a more close-knit community than she had initially thought, willing to spare more than a fleeting thought to a mere passerby.

 _'Well... Katsuragi and Hikari are a given. Maybe Hikari brought Meathe-..._ Suzuhara _by the ear as well. I'd bet an arm on Shinji floating around here too, considering how much of a worrywart he is.'_ Asuka considered, running all the most likely candidates through her mind. _'...I guess I'll have to thank them at some point, then.'_

After she was done with her careful and methodical work, and making sure that she wouldn't forget about double-checking on her candidates (Asuka Sohryu wasn't one to leave a debt unpaid, after all, no matter how insignificant), the young woman began the process of puzzling out what little information the Lady had offered her so far.

And to no surprise of hers, it didn't take the redhead a long time to find a weak point in Yui's explanation.

"...There's one thing I don't understand, though."

"And that is?"

"You said that you nearly killed me down in... whatever that place was. But how did we make it all the way back to the castle, then?" the redhead questioned, rather baffled. "It took the scouting party _hours_ to get down there, and it's not like you could stabilize my condition right there in that room, and then lug me back through the narrow tunnels that we used, either. If I was really as badly off as you say I was, your Highness, there's simply no way I could have made it out of there alive."

Yui threw the young woman an enigmatic smile before replying. Asuka responded in kind by slightly narrowing her eyes.

"That's a question with a simple answer, dear: we merely used the entrance that was meant to be used as our means of exit."

Asuka levelled a deadpan stare at her only companion, clearly not amused with the content of the answer.

"...Care to be _a lot_ lesscryptic, your Highness?"

"Gladly." Yui reclined a little bit in her seat, and crossed her arms in front of her. "Tell me: Captain Katsuragi reported that you and Suzuhara-san were the first to explore the room just before the main chamber. Is that correct?"

"Yeah. We came face to face with a weird automaton, too. It was a bitch to take down." The redhead responded, nodding her agreement. "...And it looked like a smaller version of that giant that you showed up with, now that I think about it."

"That would be because the two of them are related," the Lady elaborated, before waving a dismissing hand. "But I'm afraid that I won't be going into details on that topic just yet."

"Why not?!"

"Because of _that_ , Sohryu-san," Yui responded, throwing a pointed look at Asuka's bindings. "In any case, and going back to your initial question, do you remember a sizable statue being present in the room, dear? One that looked like an altar of sorts?"

"Yeah," Asuka confirmed, having no problem recalling the item in question but feeling slightly annoyed at being refused answers. _Again_. "I remember the sphere it had glowing before the automaton attacked us. What's with it?"

"That statue is called a Terminal. A vestige of ancient technology, and one of the few survivors of its kind."

"Another ancient artefact?" Asuka shrugged, unimpressed. "Well, I already assumed that much, looking at everything else that we saw that day. What's so special about it, though? It didn't do anything when I touched it; other than calling in the automaton, I mean."

"That would be because none of you who were present were attuned to the Terminal network. In truth, Terminals like the one you saw were meant to be transportation systems back in their prime, moving people and objects from point A to B almost instantly."

"...Almost instantly?" the redhead parroted, now somewhat more interested in the ebon statues. "How?"

The Lady fell silent at that, deep in thought. It was clear that she was trying to put the workings of the system into words and having some trouble with it. Eventually, she frowned slightly and began to speak once more, obviously not satisfied with what she was saying.

"It's not at all accurate, but I suppose that you could claim the system to work via teleportation."

" _...Bullshit._ "

"Such a crass word, my dear," Yui reproached, somewhat amused at the incredulous face Asuka was making. "Hardly the kind of language that a pretty young lady should be using. And unwarranted, too, especially considering that you sit today as living proof of what I just claimed."

"...What do you mean?"

"You just asserted that it was impossible for us to carry you all the way back to the castle before you expired, Sohryu-san, and you are completely right. I merely used the Terminal down in those caves and the one that resides in the depths of Akuro castle both to omit the arduous trek that you undertook, and to provide a quick means of escape, thereby providing you a chance at survival."

One more time the redhead was struck silent, her mind greedily devouring the facts that it was offered with astounding speed, even if she was more than a bit miffed about being presented with yet another absurd scenario; nevertheless, and if she had to be completely honest, a sizable part of her was revelling at all the otherworldly information and tales that she was being told, and at the chance of acquiring knowledge that very few people in the entire world could possibly have.

She'd be lying if she claimed that scholarly pursuits weren't a major motivation behind her initial journey, after all.

But much to the young woman's chagrin, her curious side was vastly overshadowed by an opposing force. One that thought that Asuka was in no shape whatsoever to be debating about ancient relics and impossible feats at the moment.

It was that latter part of her that brought a hand to the young redhead's forehead with a pained hiss.

"Are you all right, dear?"

"...Yeah," Asuka pinched her forehead with two fingers and drew a few deep breaths. She then carefully rose back up until she was sitting straight once more. "It's just that this is... This is just too much to take in right now, I guess."

"I know, Sohryu-san, but this is sadly something that must be told. Time is not on our side." A moment of silence followed, before soft giggles started to unexpectedly reach Asuka's ears. "If it makes you feel better, though, you're taking these developments much better than many of the others did."

Poking an eye out of her sheltering hand, the young redhead smiled wryly at that.

"...I must be getting used to the crazy, then."

"That you are. I would like to mention that these sort of bizarre events are not a common occurrence in Akuro, however. You just... seem to have a gift for timeliness and some very rotten luck, if you'll pardon the expression."

"Yeah well, tell me about it. It actually helps quite a bit with finding jobs, though," Asuka shrugged. "You don't really find a lot of people in need of aid in the idyllic villages, you know?"

"I would imagine as much, Sohryu-san," Yui agreed. Her face then turned amused, and her smile impish. "Speaking of which, I've heard that you've forged yourself quite the reputation during your short stay in our lands."

"Ack."

Asuka made a face at the reminder. Not because of it being unexpected, but rather due to it bringing her thoughts back to Yui's previous announcement of the militia taking turns in watching over her.

After taking into account their brushes with each other in the past, Asuka honestly didn't think herself _too_ deserving of that kindness. Even if she was _far_ from being the only one to have done wrong, the redhead was almost certain that she wouldn't have responded in kind had the roles been reversed, a fact that she didn't feel all that proud about.

...For the second time, she quietly resolved to pay her dues.

"Oh, did I worry you, dear?" the brunette eventually questioned, having somewhat misinterpreted Asuka's rueful silence as fear. "Fret not, Sohryu-san, there have been some... less-than-ideal incidents involving your person, but the overall appraisal of your efforts has been largely positive!" Yui joyfully added, before her voice took a slight turn towards seriousness. "It's gotten to a point at which I've started to consider formally hiring your services for the foreseeable future, incidentally."

And, just like that, the redheaded girl almost instantly shook away her gloom.

"Really?! That's...-" Seized by her excitement, Asuka almost jumped out of the bed. She managed to catch herself right before she did so, however, very much aware that she was breaking pretty much every rule in the book regarding decorum; instead, the girl quickly corrected her efforts and straightened up as much as she could, bowing respectfully shortly after. The furthest that she had allowed herself to do so for _anyone_ , even. "I-I mean... I'm honoured and _really_ grateful for the opportunity, your Highness."

"I can see that much," the older woman agreed, raising an eyebrow at the redhead. "Of course, there's still the matter surrounding your bondage to resolve, but..."

Yui continued speaking words of reassurance but, unbeknownst to her, Asuka wasn't really paying any attention to them. The young woman was more focused on the opportunities for the future that Ikari's statement could entail.

This was _the_ golden opportunity for making a name for herself that she had been looking for, after all, because (even if it annoyed her to no end) a noble's word of honour opened the door to many places in the world; admittedly, though, Asuka would have preferred to garner the favour of a more influential Lady within Yamato, but Ikari was still a pretty solid start, nonetheless.

Having reached that conclusion, Asuka began to _think_. Her head and gaze fell to the side as she busied herself with plans and timelines for the coming weeks, seeking to find out the most efficient way of increasing her renown in the area and mumbling along under her breath as she did so.

First would be Akuro, she decided, followed, whenever her coming contract with Ikari was up, by the three or four important towns that were around the north of Yamato. She would focus her efforts on the centres of trade and work her way south and towards the capital, making a priority out of offering her services to any travelling merchants that may trade in the Tokyo area. With a bit of luck (and assuming that Yui only intended to hire her until things calmed down in Akuro), Asuka would have made a few contacts and a name for herself by the time she herself arrived in Tokyo, just before the first snowfalls of winter.

Which, hopefully, would prove helpful both in business and with helping her track down her true objective.

More than a bit satisfied with her planning, Asuka smiled and gave herself a mental pat on the back.

It was at this point that the redhead remembered that there was another person keeping her company, and then realised that the noise of said person's speaking had long since fallen silent; curious, and somewhat dreading that her social skills might have let her down once more, the young woman promptly raised her head from its thinking position...

...Only to find the face of Yui Ikari a palm's length away from her own.

Asuka instantly recoiled back with a startled yelp. Yui responded by calmly moving in close once more, head tilted forward and eyes hidden by the fringe of her hair.

"Uh... Y-Your Highness?" Asuka asked, more than a bit taken aback by the Lady's strange actions and sheer proximity. "...Are you all right?"

Yui didn't directly answer, instead pulling back slightly and allowing the redhead a bit of much needed breathing room, before dipping her head to the side and bringing a thin hand to her chin. The woman then continued on being confusing by visibly mulling some sort of perplexing question and throwing pointed glances towards the room's door, muttering something that was too silent to properly make out but that sounded suspiciously like Ikari was _arguing with herself_.

Eventually, and after what felt like one very awkward eternity, Yui retreated with a deep and morose sounding sigh and sat back on her chair. The woman was pouting slightly, like a brat that had been denied the right to play with a new toy, arms crossed in front of her and apparently quite unhappy.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just considered that the way you held yourself as you reflected on things was simply _adorable_ ," the Lady spoke wistfully, her eyes turning dreamy soon after. "...Those cerulean eyes trying to gaze far into the future, the alluring image of a countenance trying to find a way through uncertain and troubled times, all of it framed by a lavish mane made from the finest strands of a beautiful sunset..."

The Lady sighed deeply once more and hugged herself a bit more tightly, her features creasing even more. If she had looked like a moody child before, it now looked like Ikari was a hair's breadth away from throwing a tantrum.

"...It's too bad that I can't take you home..."

"...Ookaay...?"

Asuka, for her part, blinked at the bizarre display that she was being subjected to and instinctively moved a little bit further away, not really understanding what Ikari was saying and not being entirely sure about whether she actually _wanted_ to understand; hurriedly (and not intending to dwell on the topic for any longer than absolutely necessary), she resolved to pass the Lady's actions as some weird Yamese custom that she was unaware of.

...

Never mind the fact they were entirely out of touch with their ultraconservative society. It was still preferable to several of the scenarios that were flying through her mind's eye, that was for sure.

 _'...Is this even the same woman that was talking to me two minutes ago? What the hell's this all about? And here I was thinking that she looked to be more sensible than her offspring...'_ Asuka mused, watching in stunned silence as Yui continued talking about pictures, comparisons, and her two children in such quick succession that it made it hard to follow. At one point, the redhead could have sworn that she heard Ikari mutter something about _babies_ of all things, but the young woman hurriedly and mercilessly squashed the idea, certain of the fact that she _must_ have heard her wrong. _'...At least she has good taste and an eye for beauty? Sure, it may be_ all _sorts of creepy, but it's kinda hard not to feel flattered at the same time.'_

Ikari's colourful words had eerily reminded Asuka of a lot of stuff that Kaji used to say, after all, and the roguish man always had a gift for making her feel special. That bit about _'the finest strands of a beautiful sunset'_ had definitely been up the man's alley, that was for sure, to the point that if the voice had been deeper and the lights had been out, Asuka could have easily pictured herself being back at home and not on the other end of the known world.

...

A small fantasy that the young woman very much regretted the moment that a familiar feeling got hold of her body.

 _'Oh, damn. Now I'm feeling homesick,'_ the redhead secretly lamented. _'Great going, Asuka!'_

Or so she thought. Asuka's melancholy probably wasn't as much of a covert affair as she imagined, or maybe Ikari was simply good at reading people and inferring feelings.

"Is something wrong, Tulip dear?"

Regardless, the redhead was far more interested (or rather, horrified) by the words that said woman ended up saying.

" _T-T-Tulip?!_ "

"Indeed. Isn't it a pretty moniker?" Yui questioned with a wide smile. "Tulips come in a wide variety of colours, but I personally like the ones with an orange-reddish tint to them the most. Just like your gorgeous hair, Sohryu-san!" the Lady then turned her gaze away from a heavily blushing Asuka, her expression turning dreamy once more. "My dearest, on the other hand, is a cute and hard-working Bluebird!"

Uncertain of what she should say in response, or whether she should even say something at all, the redhead's mouth imitated that of a fish for a far longer span of time than she would be comfortable admitting to. After all, Asuka had been called many things in her life, from Precious with Kaji, to Maggot and Harlot during military training, to the many heroic titles that she had gathered during her travels, and finishing with the obnoxious nickname of _Red Devil_ that Suzuhara and his cronies in the militia had labelled her with.

This had to be the first time that Asuka had been termed after a flower of all things, though, and she wasn't sure about how comfortable she was with the idea; flowers, in spite of their overall beauty, were inherently fragile and at the mercy of almost everything around them and, while Ikari probably didn't mean demeaning by it (the woman honestly didn't look like the sort to be offensive for no reason), Asuka honestly felt a bit insulted by the comparison.

She wasn't certain on whether calling the Lady out on her random nicknaming would be a good idea at the time, however.

One thing was fully clear to the redhead, however: Asuka had been equating the name _Ikari_ with _annoyance_ for a while now, and the matriarch of the family wasn't helping matters with her antics. _At all_.

It was also pretty obvious that she wasn't getting used to the crazy, after all. Much to her chagrin.

"Yeah... Too much information, your Highness... So! _Moving on_!" Asuka called out more loudly than absolutely necessary, both to fully clean her mind of the last minute of her life and to make sure that she had Ikari's attention. The redhead then raised her arms in front of her when the Lady's eyes moved towards her person. "Can we finally talk about _this_? My wrists are starting to feel like the rest of my body!"

 _'To say nothing of my patience.'_

"Very well. I suppose that there's no point in delaying your main topic of interest any further," Yui acceded, shifting in her seat until she was comfortable in her position; there was no trace of her previous, eccentric, persona when she was done, much to the young redhead's continued bewilderment. "Tell me, Sohryu-san: since we've established the end point of your recollections, I gather that you don't recall jumping up and assaulting me shortly after your fall?"

"...Wait, _what_?"

"I'll take that as a _'no'_ ," the Lady concluded after taking in the redhead's shocked expression. "I expected as much."

"Now wait just a damn minute!" said redhead immediately protested. "What do you mean I attacked you?! Wasn't I supposed to be unconscious and on the verge of death at the time?!"

"Calm down, my dear. Patience and due process are the keys towards enlightenment."

" _I'm calm!_ So _get going_ with the damn process, already!"

"As you wish..." Yui concurred with a droll tone, taking in Asuka's words with only a raised eyebrow. "Like I just mentioned, you sprang up from your position on the floor a few moments after hitting it and came straight at me. Busy as I was channelling for my attempt to hold Matarael back, I could do little to protect myself against your assault until Captain Katsuragi came to my rescue. She overpowered you and the mad flailing of your fists with little difficulty, although maybe a bit more forcefully than necessary."

"...So that's why my body aches all over? Damn that overpowered idiot," Asuka muttered under her breath, before shaking her head and focusing again. "Okay, fine. But what you're saying still doesn't make _sense_. Leaving aside the fact that I _shouldn't_ have been able to stand up on my own, _why_ would I attack you? I didn't even know you! And how come I don't remember any of it?"

"It is an interesting conundrum, isn't it? Thankfully for us, I've got one major theory in regards to it." Yui then paused for a few seconds, carefully mulling over her next words; or trying to be dramatic, Asuka couldn't really tell anymore. "Tell me, Sohryu-san: have you ever felt like a choice you made wasn't your own? Or had a sudden and irresistible urge to do something that would be rather removed from your zone of comfort?"

Asuka's brow furrowed noticeably as she blinked, perplexed. That wasn't what she had been expecting at all.

"...What kind of a question is _that_?"

"A strange one, I'm aware. But please, humour me."

Asuka answered Yui's lightly spoken request with a severe narrowing of her eyes, to no effect. With a sigh, the redhead then decided to play along, not really understanding where Ikari was going with her questions but seeing no reason to refuse.

It wasn't like refusal was going to get her unbound, anyway.

However, it barely took a few short moments of recollection for the girl to start feeling very frustrated. After all, Asuka (and most normal people out there, she surmised) didn't really go around analysing the hidden motivations behind her actions. If the redhead wanted something done she went and did it, plain and simple.

"...I don't know. Maybe? I guess my deciding to go on a journey around the world would count as moving outside of my comfort zone, but it's not like I didn't have any reasons to leave," Asuka eventually bit out, feeling more than a bit aggravated. "How would I be able to tell whether a choice I made was mine or not, anyway?"

"A fair point. It's not like they would be sloppy enough to leave a trace, in any case," Asuka's ears perked at Yui's statement, but the Lady continued before she could speak up. "What about voices in your head? Thoughts and feelings that intermingle with your own?"

Those words _did_ give the redhead pause, for they actually struck close to home. In a way that she didn't find pleasant at all.

 _'...No way. Is she talking about Maisie?'_

In light of this sudden development, Asuka hurriedly tried to contact Maisie in the same manner she usually did, taking care to put on a thoughtful front lest Ikari grow suspicious. But, once again, her oldest friend offered no answer, a fact that was now actually starting to worry Asuka.

Had something happened to Maisie, after all?

Nevertheless, and resolving to get to the bottom of her friend's lack of communication at the first available opportunity, Asuka was absolutely clear on one, simple fact: Maisie couldn't possibly have had anything to do with the events Ikari had described.

 _'Yeah, no._ Maisie _of all people looking to hurt anyone? And flailing like mad, at that? That's about as likely as Yuri not trying to rip-off a customer or that wuss Shinji not stuttering through a sentence.'_

The young redhead's belief was further strengthened by a sudden memory; a picture of a child grabbing her hand and smiling brightly at her, which Asuka quickly identified as remnants of that weird dream she'd had before.

Feeling further reassured by the memory Asuka responded resolutely, speaking clearly and without the faintest hint of doubt in her voice.

"No. None of that."

And thus, Asuka lied to the face of a very important woman, but she was confident that it was the right thing to do. Whatever theory that Ikari was concocting, there was simply no way that her friend could possibly be a part of it. It simply wasn't in her nature, and Asuka would be willing to wager an arm on that.

Ikari, on the other hand, didn't appear to be too satisfied with the redhead's response.

"Are you sure about your answer, dear? You took an awfully long time to speak up..."

"I was just making sure. There's isn't anybody talking to me in my head. Why would there be, anyway? I'm not crazy."

A few tense seconds followed, in which Yui scrutinized the redhead before her to the smallest detail and Asuka tried her hardest to appear nonchalant about it. An effort that honestly wasn't quite _that_ herculean for the young woman, used as she was to bluffing and intimidating her way through many situations already.

Eventually, the Lady's expression noticeably relaxed, and she signalled with a thin hand towards Asuka's bound hands.

"May I see your wrists, dear?"

"What for?"

"Why, to free you of your bindings, of course!" Yui responded, producing a small knife from the pocket in her left sleeve. "There's no more need for them, now that we've proven you innocent of the charges pressed against you, Sohryu-san."

"Innocent?" Asuka repeated, somewhat confounded. "Not that I'm unhappy to hear that, your Highness, but what are you basing that verdict on? We didn't really clear up anything about the assault, right?"

"I cleared more than enough to ascertain that your will wasn't your own at the time, Sohryu-san. You were being influenced by a third party, one that's probably been subtly directing you and your actions for a long time now."

"Influencing? Me?!" the redhead scoffed heatedly. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid that I have more than enough reason to believe so, and Rei's testimony of your actions prior to the prison's sabotage further reinforces my theory."

"... _S-Sabotage_?" Asuka parroted, putting together all the pieces she'd been given and coming to an unpleasant conclusion. "…Are you saying that _I_ was the one who let those things free?"

"The definition of 'you' is fairly loose in this scenario but, yes, 'you' did," Yui then reached into her other pocket and produced a familiar golden object, keeping it aloft by the thin chain attached to it. "By the use of this, incidentally."

"That's my pendant!" Asuka exclaimed, quickly recognizing the object as the trinket that she had been recently wearing pretty much everywhere. "What's it got to do with this?"

"Everything, dear. Take a good look at it," the Lady carefully passed the pendant onto Asuka's waiting hands, before making the most out of the motion and using the knife to cut through the girl's bindings. "Is this pendant the same as you last remember it?"

A short, cursory glance revealed that not to be the case.

"...No, it's missing the centrepiece. A cheap jewel."

"Can you describe that jewel, dear?"

"Sure, it's not like it's hard. Just a dark red sphere that didn't even sparkle in the sun..." as she spoke, Asuka's eyes filled with a sudden realisation. " _Wait a minute!_ It was just- It was just like the two thingies that were floating inside that tube! It didn't glow like they did, though..."

"I see that you already drew the connection between the two," the Lady praised with a small smile, before her voice turned serious again. "That should make our next point fairly simple to explain: the crimson spheres that were inside the tube, and the one that used to be part of this pendant, are indeed one and the same. They are called _'Cores'_. You could think of them as-"

"As the fuel keeping that place working. Yeah, I thought as much. Go on."

The smile returned to Yui's face, now a little bigger and more impressed than before.

"Very well. Cores are a very efficient, lasting and powerful source of energy, with no comparable alternative available today anymore. Cores, however, are also very fickle: a system utilizing cores needs to be calibrated to severe lengths, as drawing less energy than the core requires will cause it to go inert, forcing a complete redoing of the calibration process at the very least; attempting to draw more energy than the core was designed for or trying to feed energy into a system past its safety limits, on the other hand, will generally end in a very violent detonation with the cores at its centre. Most core-powered energy grids possess emergency shut-down procedures to avoid the latter scenario, however. The one that set Matarael free after your unwilling sabotage is one such example."

The first part of her explanation completed, Yui relaxed her posture and focused her eyes on the redhead once again, finding her thoughtful and apparently struggling with the sentences she'd just heard. It was then that the Lady realised with a bit of a frown that her technical wording might not have been at all comprehensible for the young woman before her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I confusing you, dear?"

To the brunette's surprise, though, Asuka merely waved her concerns away.

"...No, I think I got the gist of it," Asuka responded, leaving her thinking aside and sitting upright once more. "Basically, you have to work things out so that the energy that the cores will give out will be _just right_. Too small of a quantity or too much of it and things go to hell, right? Like someone trying to walk a tightrope." The redhead looked at the older woman for confirmation, and continued once she received an affirmative nod. "When 'I' inserted a third core in a system that was designed for only two, the system stopped working in order to prevent a huge explosion, setting the freaky, big spider and its flunkies free. Did I get everything okay?"

"Perfectly so, Tulip dear! Your analogy was also very on point, as well." The Lady's complimenting words filled Asuka with equal measures pride and annoyance. "Now, I gather that this short explanation will suffice as proof of your innocence? I would have preferred some actual solid evidence, of course, but the fact remains that you couldn't possibly have known what the jewel within your pendant truly was, and the same stands true for the workings of the chamber's energy grid. The only sensible explanation is that someone familiar with the system engineered the whole affair. It is not unreasonable to think, then, that the friend that first handed you the core was probably an unknowing pawn, as well."

Asuka's expression morphed into a smirk following Yui's extended elaboration, a funny image suddenly coming to mind:

 _'Of course, it stands to reason that Yuri wouldn't gift_ anything _under normal circumstances, after all. We needed the efforts of a weird, mind-controlling entity for such an impossibility to happen.'_

With a shake of her head, the redhead dismissed the amusing line of thought from her list of priorities, focusing again on what was most important. Namely, Ikari's so-called _'Manipulator'_ , the mere idea of which still sounded completely ridiculous and alien to her structured mind.

...

...Like most everything else in Akuro, really. Honestly, the fact that she had been already embroiled in all sorts of ridiculous situations was the only thing keeping Asuka from disregarding Yui's claims outright.

That, and knowing that this convenient Manipulator was her key out of an otherwise fairly hairy situation.

"Right. I don't think that your definition of _'sensible_ ' and my own truly match up, your Highness, but it's not like I have a better argument than yours," Asuka admitted with an exasperated sigh. "So. Who's this mysterious and powerful entity that pretty much raised me from the dead supposed to be?"

Irritatingly enough, Ikari chose that exact moment to stop being forthcoming with her answers. The woman smiled coyly, leaning back on her seat and speaking in a tone that bordered on mocking.

"That is for me to know and you to find out when the time comes, Sohryu-san. You shouldn't worry about losing control of your faculties in the future, however. I have taken measures to prevent that."

"So you _do_ know who they are?"

"I _suspect_ ," Ikari corrected, before her expression lost all playfulness. "But I must insist that you don't worry about such details for the time being."

"Tch. More cryptic answers. _Awesome_ ," the young redhead scowled, her annoyance steadily increasing by the minute. Yui paid it no mind. "You know, I get the feeling that I should have asked this before, but how do _you_ know all this stuff, anyway? Who _are_ you?"

"I am Yui Ikari, ruling Lady of Akuro, of course," the Lady answered, matter-of-factly. "Suffice to say that I come from a lineage dedicated to preserving the peace of Yamato, one that has been doing so for several centuries, and that I see you as a valuable asset to keep close at hand in the face of the coming crisis. And I'm afraid that there's no need for you to know anything more than that at this time either, Tulip dear."

Asuka's eye twitched noticeably at the last sentence, but the girl managed to keep herself from making a face at what was looking more and more like Ikari's catch-phrase.

"Coming crisis? You're talking about the thing that was imprisoned down there and the bastard that messed with my head, right?"

"Among others, yes."

"Others? Well, _that_ sounds ominous," the redhead scoffed grumpily. "Anyway, I guess that I won't be doing menial jobs under your contract, huh? No finding lost possessions, rescuing kittens or hunting down lawbreakers?"

"Indeed, I am interested in your abilities for far more practical matters," Yui affirmed nonchalantly. "For example, repelling the army that is currently heading towards us."

Asuka grunted off-handedly at that. Having already fallen into an involuntary habit of only paying Yui half a mind whenever her voice took on an unprofessional tone, it took the redhead a few seconds to fully understand what the Lady had just said.

"A-An _army_?!" Asuka exclaimed, jumping out o the bed and standing next to it, alarm clearly written on her face. "An army's on its way?!"

"That's correct, a fighting force that I estimate to be around three thousand troops strong. They'll be surrounding Akuro within the fortnight."

"Three thousand..." the foreign girl repeated, running the numbers through her head. "I-Isn't the militia only about a tenth of that?"

"Yes, although there have been recent efforts to conscript and train as many able-bodied citizens as possible," Ikari elaborated, still sounding far more composed about the idea of a siege than Asuka would expect _anyone_ to be. "We foresee that number to have doubled when the day of the attack arrives."

A few mental calculations did little to assuage Asuka's unease, but she tried her best not to let it show or impair her analysis.

An analysis that she wasn't finding all that positive, to say the least.

"Five-to-one odds still aren't something to be overly happy about, even with the advantage of our castle walls. Especially if half of our bodies are going to be badly trained and suffer from poor discipline," the redhead fixed Yui with an inquisitive stare. "I guess that you've already asked your neighbours for help?"

"No."

The Lady's response was succinct, and as blunt and with as much room for interpretation as Blue's usually were. Which is to say, not much.

Nevertheless Asuka, in her logic-driven line of thinking, was certain that she had to have heard that wrong.

"...E-Excuse me?"

"Did I not speak out loud? I said that we didn't ask for assistance, my dear. There would be no point to it."

"What?! _No point_?!" Asuka exploded, her temper having finally reached a boiling point. "You're going to be facing a vastly superior force in a small castle with barely proper battlements! _The hell do you mean that there's_ _no point_?!"

"There is hardly any need to shout, my dear." Yui chided, with more unspoken force behind her words than readily apparent; it did little to daunt the young woman before her. "To answer your first question, however, we are better prepared than you imagine and Captain Katsuragi is further reinforcing our defences as we speak; in regards to your second question, we sadly have no proof that this attack is going to happen. No Lord with the opportunity to help us would accept our plea for aid without it."

Asuka frowned at Yui's words but, in clear contrast to what she had been feeling up to that point, it wasn't at all due to aggravation, but rather a sense of incomprehension.

Back at home, after all, regional nobles and Lordlings would have veritably jumped at the chance of having their peers on their debt. The bitter historical rivalries between the different Lords of Yamato must have truly been something else for them not to think in the same manner, to the point that Asuka honestly found it somewhat hard to believe.

Then again, it wasn't like her input on the topic would matter at all. She promptly decided to let it go.

 _'Better prepared than I imagine...?'_ the redhead wondered, thinking about the other topic touched upon by Yui's words and what they could mean. It wasn't long until the realisation of their most likely significance hit her like a ton of bricks. _'Oh, right!'_

"You're talking about that orange giant of yours, aren't you? The one that you made fight the giant spider? What is that thing anywa-" Asuka quickly caught herself and clicked her tongue in annoyance. She then rolled her eyes before carrying on, her voice an irritated monotone. "No, no, no! Wait, don't say anything! _'There's no need for me to know that'_ , right?"

"You're such a quick learner, dear." Yui smiled approvingly, further getting on the redhead's nerves.

"Yeah. Another one of my talents, you see," Asuka agreed drily, resigned to letting go of yet another interesting topic. "And that other thing you said doesn't make sense, either: how can there be no proof? You can't just hide a marching army!"

"Oh, but this army can very well do just that!" the brunette refuted airily, not missing the look of irked disbelief that her counterpart was wearing. "Don't worry, dear. You'll understand when you see it."

"Right," Asuka let out, crossing her arms and allowing the side of her that handled business to take the reins. " _If_ I see it, you mean."

"Oh?" Yui blinked and raised an expectant eyebrow, clearly not having foreseen such an answer.

"I haven't signed any contract with you yet, your Highness," the mercenary elaborated, taking a bit of wicked pleasure in being the one to surprise Ikari, instead of the other way around. "And, to be honest, you've just made me seriously consider not doing so anymore."

"Is that so? Woe is me, that would be a terrible shame indeed! I was certain that the gallant Asuka the Red would stop at nothing to aid us in our time of need!"

Asuka's delight was short-lived indeed, when faced with the Lady's ham-fisted performance complete with bringing the back of her hand to her forehead. The redhead didn't take kindly to the slightly mocking tone of the lamentations, either.

"...Seriously? Are you attempting to guilt-trip me into staying? And pretty terribly, at that," Asuka replied, trying mildly successfully to keep her own timbre from turning biting. "Not that you'd need to, anyway. I do owe you my life, so I can't really say no if you actually decide to force me to help in your heroic defence. Even if there's a huge difference between being heroic and being suicidal."

"Oh no, no. Forgive my little joke, my dear," the brunette returned somewhat gaily, motioning in reassurance with her hands. "I'm very much aware of the dangers involved, Sohryu-san, and it wasn't my intention at all to coax you into our defence. I wouldn't dream of demanding you to stay, either. There's hardly any need for that, after all."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you forgotten? The woods around Akuro are not safe at this point, and they probably won't be for a time still considering our situation," Ikari threw a knowing smile the redhead's way. "You should know that better than anyone."

The warning did little to lessen Asuka's resolve, however. It actually did more to further embolden her to the possibility, instead.

"Yeah, sure. That didn't stop me before and it's not going to stop me now if I decide to leave," the mercenary shrugged dismissively. "I've got things to do and places to be, and they don't include being cooped in a tiny castle while unnoticeable armies come knocking. If I have a say in the matter, anyway."

"Dear Lady, such bravery! Or is it recklessness?" Yui replied with a dry answer of her own, her thoughts on Asuka's idea clearly audible. "You should make sure to look after yourself to some degree, Sohryu-san. Us mothers worry greatly for our children, I assure you."

"And _you_ should mind your own damn business!"

The young woman's reflex answer caught both parties by surprise, Asuka's biting words stunning the Lady into silence and the redhead being rendered mute by what could very well have been a grave verbal faux-pas.

"...Is that so? My apologies if I happened to stumble onto a thorny topic, dear." Much to Asuka's slight irritation, Ikari's apology seemed sincere, making her feel further ashamed of her outburst. The Lady mortified her even more by maturely and expertly side-stepping the topic and any possible additional blunders with nothing but a smile and an airy tone. "In any case, may I suggest that you take a bit of time to have some lunch and think the circumstances over, Sohryu-san? I'd expect you should be quite hungry by now."

"I-" the redhead made to respond but the midst of her body suddenly did so for her, letting out a guttural growl that would have done a wyvern proud. What scraps remained of Asuka's anger promptly left her face, being replaced by a pinkish tinge of embarrassment instead. "...I guess I am, yeah." A flicker of remembrance then passed through the girl's expression, the topic of food reminding her of another detail that she hadn't yet questioned Ikari about. "Speaking of, I think I remember you force-feeding me something weird."

"I did indeed. But that, as well, can wait. Suffice to say that it wouldn't be wrong to think of it as medicine. Your improvement certainly wouldn't have been nearly as smooth without it." The Lady evaded, waving her hand in the familiar dismissing motion that Asuka was growing to hate before turning towards the door and calling out in a louder voice. "Ko-chan! Please accompany our dear guest to the canteen. I'm sure that she'll appreciate some nourishment."

A female in her early twenties with long, brown hair tied into a ponytail promptly opened the door to Asuka's room without any further announcement. She was of standard Yamese complexion and with above-average looks as far as beauty was concerned, dressed in the same kind of light armour that Katsuragi wore around the castle, hinting at some kind of relationship with the Watchers.

She also looked sort of familiar, but the redhead was honestly more concerned with the pair of daggers that the woman kept sheathed on her lower back and the stern frown that was drawn on her face. All things considered, Asuka wouldn't have been surprised if this woman turned out to be a high-ranking member of the militia, considering her apparent familiarity with the Lady of Akuro and that she certainly appeared to play the part of the hard-nosed commanding officer far better than Katsuragi did most of the time.

With a polite nod but nary a word, the familiar brunette silently beckoned Asuka over from her position at the door. Seeing no real reason to refuse (and that Ikari herself was seemingly deeming their meeting over), the young mercenary bowed to Yui in the same manner she'd done before and walked over towards the waiting militiawoman.

Only to stop in place when Ikari addressed her one final time, the Lady's words caught somewhere between her business and playful tones.

"I obviously believe it would be better for you to stay, my dear, but should you decide to brave the dangers outside you will find your equipment cleaned and ready for combat over at the blacksmith, and your horse ready for departure at a moment's notice. I've been told that he's been missing you."

...Which was more than Asuka could have said, much to her embarrassment, as she had pretty much entirely forgotten about Emil, her trusty steed and unwavering companion. She had not visited the proud equine _even once_ since her arrival in Akuro, and she was certain that Emil was going to make her pay for it in his own special way whenever the redhead decided to resolve that state of affairs.

It was funny how the little things could slip one's mind when faced with unthinkable scenario after impossible development in quick succession, really.

"...He better have, the blockhead." Asuka ultimately said, a small smile tugging at her lips. She then shook her head good-humouredly and followed the militiawoman out of the room, the sound of their footsteps quickly becoming lost to the distance.

Yui, however, remained in the room a little longer, her eyes attentively scanning the quarters both to make sure that she wasn't forgetting any of her possessions within, and to try and piece together any remaining scraps of information about their unforeseen guest that the chamber could provide.

And more than once did the Lady's eyes happen upon an old-looking doll resting on top of a drawer, that was nevertheless as well preserved and cared for as its age would allow. A childish keepsake that Yui, even after having laid eyes upon it numerous times before, still thought looked largely out of place amidst Sohryu-san's possessions.

Like all of the previous times that the woman had wondered about the item, however, the brunette quickly dismissed the toy as unimportant. Focusing her attention on more pressing matters instead, and confident in the knowledge that she wasn't forgetting anything important, she walked out of the room shortly thereafter.

Everyone needed hobbies, after all. And who was she to judge, really?


	11. Battle Preparations

In spite of the imposing first impression that Kodama had made back in her room, Asuka soon found the woman to be actually really agreeable. She was every bit as steely as she had first appeared, but the brunette also turned out to be very nice and respectful (almost to a fault, in fact) while possessing quite a witty sense of humour that wasn't annoying or bordering on offensive like Katsuragi's so-called jokes often were.

She was also Hikari's older sister, as it so happened. Which, after having spent a few minutes with Kodama, explained quite a few things already in regards to her friend's love of all things proper; in retrospect, Asuka realised that there was a very noticeable physical resemblance between the two sisters, to the point that the redhead kind of wondered how she hadn't managed to tell Kodama's relation to Hikari at a glance.

The distinct lack of freckles must have thrown her off.

In any case, it was safe to say that Asuka _really_ liked Kodama Horaki. It was a breath of fresh air to be treated normally for once in a place in which she had been an exotic animal to stare at from afar at best, or a foreign intruder to be irrationally hated at worst. It also helped that the elder Horaki had been more than grateful of Asuka looking out for her little sister, and that she'd had no reservations about letting the redhead know. That had certainly accrued her many points towards staying out of Asuka's ever-growing shit list.

Which was why the young mercenary was a little bit upset to see her newly met acquaintance leave her alone in the canteen shortly after her meal had been presented to her. The brunette had justified herself by explaining that Hikari had apparently been quite shaken ever since the exploration party had returned from their mission, and that Kodama wanted to spend whatever scraps of time she could afford with her sister.

A completely reasonable sentiment, Asuka realised, but the redhead still couldn't help but feel a pinprick of annoyance at being abandoned when she was having such a good time. She felt a substantially bigger pang of envy at the sisterly concern that Kodama had shown for Hikari, though.

Asuka had never known what having a sibling could have been like, after all. Having someone with whom you could share your worries or that would be willing to help you whenever you were in a bad spot; sure, Mr. Kaji had done so for her whenever he could, but he couldn't _always_ be there, not with the kind of hectic work schedule he had when Asuka was young, and even less so when their schedules stopped lining up when the redhead decided to enlist in the army.

At the end of the day, Maisie was probably the closest thing to a sibling that Asuka would ever know, and it was honestly pretty hard to imagine her oldest friend ever being capable of comforting her in times of need. Things tended to go the other way around more often than not, incidentally.

And speaking of which, Maisie still wasn't responding to her hollers at all, a fact that bothered Asuka to no end. After all, not only was she still worried about her friend, she was also bored out of her mind in the empty canteen, the sound of her chopsticks clumsily striking each other, the rice and the vegetables within her plate as she _tried_ to eat being her only company at the time.

The redhead fought with her food for several minutes, a struggle that remained without a clear victor until the very end of the match, where Asuka bitterly decided to yield and leave a little less than half the ration on her plate. The food had been tasty (even if the she was sick and tired of rice, fish and vegetables) and it had succeeded in stopping her insides from devouring themselves to a degree, but Asuka wasn't in a proper mood to try and make the primitive Yamese way of feeding work.

 _'I never thought I'd say this, but I would honestly_ maim _someone for a piece of dried meat around here,'_ the girl lamented, dreamily remembering the travelling man's most hated foodstuff. _'Oh, and a fork. For God's sake, I'd be willing to go on a killing spree for one of_ those _!'_

With a deep sigh that spoke of all the little things she couldn't have, the redhead pushed the bowl aside and, in light of her apparent lack of obligations for the time being, elected to busy herself doing something more productive: Asuka lost herself in thoughts that revolved around Maisie's sudden silence and all the information Ikari had given her, instead.

The former she quickly gave up on, continuing to produce no results she could call a success and lacking any real previous experience with silences that long. Much as she hated to admit it, there was little Asuka could actually _do_ in regards to Maisie other than wait and hope for the best, considering that she didn't really know the first thing about how her relationship with the little girl even worked.

If the redhead's strange dream was to be believed, though, Maisie _should_ be all right.

The latter topic Asuka had more difficulty with, if such a thing was even possible, but her troubles were not due to all the stuff that Ikari had deemed unimportant enough for her to know about, as one could have been led to expect. That knowledge, even if she honestly couldn't make heads or tails of most of it, she could handle. In fact, being aware of the fact that she was surrounded by such amazing enigmas in a land that she had expected little from actually made her whole body tingle with excitement, rather than the opposite.

No. Asuka's troubles stemmed from having claimed her intention to leave at any time just to get back at Ikari for being so annoyingly cryptic. It had been an unnecessary quip, and one that she didn't exactly regret making, but also one that the redhead wasn't at all sure about actually going forward with.

Because had Asuka claimed that she was fine with leaving the denizens of Akuro to their fates, she would have been lying. For all of their faults, these were the same people that had offered her a safe haven when she was in need of one, after all, and that was without counting the ones that had actually been _good_ to her, like Hikari, her sister and Katsuragi. Or even Shinji, to a certain extent.

Besides, like she had previously said, leaving was clearly the cowardly thing to do. It was also the _sensible_ thing to do, sure, but it wasn't like Asuka was going to be reaching her objective without taking a few risks here and there. What would she do if news of her escape ever got out, in a land where words such as _loyalty_ and _honour_ carried as much weight as opulence and connections did back home?

She would be finished, plain and simple, and her goals would remain unattainable.

And such a thing wouldn't do. Her feelings on the matter notwithstanding, taking a gamble on the woman that seemed eerily confident in the face of major adversity was probably the correct course of action. And Asuka could honestly think of worse ways to go than glorious battle if the worst happened and things didn't end up going as expected, anyway.

...Not that they were going to if Asuka the Red had any say in the matter, of course.

Her mind set, the redhead slowly uncoiled out of her thinking position and stretched the muscles of her back a little bit. She was satisfied with her decision, even if Asuka had the nagging feeling that Ikari had pretty much predicted the actual content of it some minutes in advance.

 _'Which is pretty damn anno-'_

"A-Are you done, Sohryu-san?"

"GAH!" Asuka recoiled at the sudden voice, jumping so far out of her seat that she barely managed to maintain her balance. She quickly focused her gaze on the intruder to her thoughts, finding a pair of startled cobalt eyes staring back at her. " _Shinji!_ The hell are _you_ doing here?!"

"W-What do you mean, Sohryu-san?!" the young man replied, every bit as surprised. "You told me that I could sit!"

"I-I did?"

The redhead blinked, not having expected such an answer, and quickly checked with her memory.

 _'...Now that I think about it, I think someone_ did _call my name. Maybe.'_

"And why didn't you say anything?!"

"I _did_! _You_ are the one who didn't answer!" Shinji shot back, his brow creasing a little. "Then I noticed that you were thinking about something, so I thought I'd wait until you were done."

"Of course," Asuka scoffed, quickly trying to deflect any responsibility for the misunderstanding. "I'm sure that you weren't ogling me instead, you pervert."

Shinji's expression darkened at the girl's words and he looked away, sourly muttering something under his breath. The redhead, for her part, smiled in satisfaction at seeing the young man react in such a manner.

The boy _had_ broken away from his doormat tendencies during their prior meetings, if only for brief periods of time and after being subjected to severe annoyance, and it had been a guilty pleasure of Asuka's to try and rile Shinji up from time to time during their conversations. It more than helped to break away from the monotony of talking about her homeland and being subjected to question after question for an extended period of time if nothing else, and Asuka would admit to finding the boy much more interesting to interact with when he was angry, rather than his usual meek self; he _was_ supposed to be a man, after all.

With a shake of his head and a dirty look in the redhead's direction, Shinji sighed and disregarded Asuka's comment without any more thought offered to it. An action that the young mercenary found to be unexpected, once again.

 _'Weird. That normally gets more of a rise out of him,'_ Asuka mused for but an instant, puzzled. _'Bah. Not important.'_

"...Three days in bed and you're still the same." The raven-haired boy grumped, with a tinge of something else hiding behind his aggravated tone.

That 'something' being relief, as Asuka could very easily tell. She had gotten very good at reading Shinji's moods, after all (and much to her dismay), by pure virtue of their conversations offering zero intellectual challenge of any sort and there being a lot of time for her to be observant.

That being so, the redhead decided to play along.

"Of course I am. What did you expect?" Asuka replied boastfully, in a ham-fisted way meant to convey that she was perfectly all right. It worked, if the half-smile that appeared on the boy's face was any indication.

She then noticed that there was something else off about Shinji that day, other than him not biting into her verbal baits: he wasn't wearing his usual fancy clothing, but a common ensemble full of differently-coloured splotches that looked more like something a common working man would wear.

"What are you doing anyway, dressed like that?"

Shinji looked down at himself and his face coloured slightly, having just remembered that the state of his outfit was pretty terrible and in need of a wash. The boy sighed and scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

"I was cooking. I just finished for the day."

"Cooking?" Asuka parroted with a perplexed expression. "You can cook?"

For some reason, Asuka had quite a bit of trouble picturing Shinji among the pots and fires, probably because most of the cooks that she'd gotten to know in her life were either big and wide, or somewhat plump, none of which applied to the boy before her. Then again, she herself was only barely adequate at it, more skilled at campfire cooking than making a proper meal, so chances were that she wasn't the best person to identify a culinary adept, anyway.

It more than explained the smudges, though.

"...A little bit. There are more cooks working here, but I like to help in the canteen from time to time anyway," Shinji's eyes shifted towards the discarded bowl, eyeing it curiously. "I think that I was the one who prepared your meal today, actually. Wasn't it good?"

"No! It was, it was-!" Asuka began before she caught herself, just as she was about to say _'kinda tasty'_. It wouldn't do for Shinji to be aware of the fact that he could cook pretty well, after all, or chances were that the next time he summoned her for a conversation it would be to speak at length about the finer points of Imperial cuisine.

And that would be a somewhat embarrassing topic for her to talk about, all things considered.

"Sohryu-san?"

"...I-I mean... It was _decent_."

"Weren't you hungry, then?" Shinji pressed, taking the girl at her word. "The bowl's still about half full."

"Yeah, that's right!" the redhead quickly agreed, finding a handy escape from the topic in the boy's words. "I already ate a bit before coming down so...-"

An escape that lasted about as long as it took Asuka's insides to offer an encore performance of their dragon's roar, letting the young woman know that her assertions were hers only as far as her body was concerned, and leaving a stunned Shinji open-mouthed and with no clue as to what he was supposed to say.

 _'Damn you, stomach!'_

Asuka, for her part, was painfully aware of the fact that she was blushing brightly enough to be used as a beacon for passing ships.

"O-Okay, _fine_." Asuka quickly rallied her thoughts and looked around the table for something else to pin her hopes on, her eyes soon stumbling upon the pair of damnable sticks that had troubled her so much before. Making a face, she bitterly wondered why she hadn't just gone with that for an explanation from the start and saved herself some embarrassment. "I was having trouble with the damn sticks and lost my patience. Happy now?"

"Your chopsticks?"

"Yeah, those things! I mean, you people make it look so freaking _simple_ , but how are you even supposed to use them? And who was the genius that came up with the half-assed effort of using sticks to eat in the first place? It's not like the idea of a spoon, fork and knife is _that_ complicated, for God's sake! And that's without getting into..."

Having been allowed a convenient outlet for her mounting frustrations, Asuka was ranting about the stupidity of chopsticks and many other weird Yamese traditions before she realised what she was doing, clearly intending (as it had been quite a few times before already) for Shinji to ultimately agree with her or face the consequences.

Unbeknown to the redheaded mercenary, however, Shinji wasn't really listening. He was mulling something over instead, apparently trying to recall some small detail or another.

"Wait a minute, Sohryu-san!"

Before, with a gasp of remembrance, he bolted from the table and out the door in a speedy fashion, leaving his hastily uttered words and Asuka's interrupted monologue floating in the air of the canteen.

Blinking, the redhead turned to stare at the door through which Shinji had disappeared like a bolt of lightning, allowing her mouth to close in the process.

 _'...And where the heck is that idiot going now?'_

It took but a few minutes for Shinji to return, time that Asuka spent quietly fuming and thinking of appropriate punishments for the stupid jerk that had _obviously_ ignored her and left her hanging like that. She had tore into people for less than that before, after all, and it wasn't like his position was going to save Ikari from the consequences of his actions.

Asuka's more than enjoyable efforts were brought to a halt when Shinji deposited a small and ornate wooden box full of engravings right in front of her, however. An otherwise mundane act that was made intriguing by how uncharacteristically smug the young man looked.

Or as smug as Shinji could get, anyway.

"Open it." The boy urged, his self-satisfied smile not budging an inch.

Curious, the redhead decided that she would delay her verbal execution for just a tiny little bit. As she grabbed the box and fiddled with its lock mechanism, though, Asuka still made sure to fix the raven-haired boy with one of her infamous glares.

"If this is your idea of an elaborate joke, Ikari, know that I'm gonna-"

But for the second time in a scant few moments, the young mercenary's words died in her mouth, her attention taken by the sight of three blessed items within the wooden container: a spoon, fork and knife, their metallic surfaces catching the light in a silvery glint that, to Asuka's biased eyes, was easily the most beautiful sight she'd witnessed in the last two weeks.

"These are western utensils!" Asuka heartily exclaimed, looking at the three metallic appliances as if they were made of gold. "Where did you get them?!"

Shinji's smile widened at her reaction, a response that would have given the redhead a nigh-irresistible urge to smack him on the back of the head in virtually every single other situation, but that didn't even cross her mind at that specific time.

"They were among some of the stuff Sensei left behind when he left. He wasn't all that good with chopsticks, either," Shinji explained good-humouredly, before nodding his head at the item he had presented. "You can keep the box. I don't think that Sensei will miss it or its contents."

"...You sure?" Asuka questioned, catching the wistful tone of the young man's clarification and instantly stopping in her gushing. "Isn't it like a keepsake or something?"

"It's fine," the boy deflected, reassuring the redhead with a shake of his head. "Sensei's always been a pragmatic person, so I'm sure he'd prefer for his things to be of use rather than have them collecting dust."

Asuka, for her part, stared inquisitively at her companion, measuring whether the young noble was actually being sincere with her words. And maybe she did so a tad _too_ attentively, because Shinji quickly looked away, blushing slightly.

He _did_ look honest and confident enough with his decision, however, and Asuka shrugged dismissively, letting the matter drop. After all, she could always thoroughly clean the utensils and give them back if she noticed Shinji regretting his choice, or something.

"Well... If you say so," the young woman conceded, grabbing hold of her previously discarded bowl and dragging it closer, much to the delight of her protesting stomach. "I guess I'll go ahead and help myself to what remains of my lunch, now that I have some civilized means of feeding myself."

"Go right ahead." Shinji replied, positioning himself comfortably on his seat and trying not to look at the young woman that was starting to chow down on her food, both out of politeness and a desire not to invoke her wrath.

However, it wasn't long before Asuka rekindled the conversation once again between mouthfuls of food, apparently not too keen about the thought of eating in silence.

"So... Any luck with remembering the name of your teacher?"

"I told you already, there's nothing to remember," Shinji shrugged, somewhat confused that the redhead was bringing up a topic that they'd already gone over in the past. "Sensei was always Sensei."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was just hoping that maybe, _just maybe_ , you would have remembered about a time in the past when you were rational," Asuka replied, waving a dismissing hand at the thought and bringing an annoyed frown to the boy's face. "A silly notion, I'm aware."

"I don't see why it's so important. If Sensei had wanted me to know his name he would've told me. You can always ask my mother if you're _that_ curious."

"Right, that will go well. That's probably another thing that _'I don't need to know'_ , I bet," her snarky response earned the young woman a questioning look from Shinji, which she waved away again. "Forget it. Anyway, is she always like that?"

"Who, mom? Like that, how?"

"Like that! You know?" Asuka set down her fork for a moment to allow her hands free movement, waving them from one side to the other to try and get her point across. "Weird, and serious, and jumping from one to the other without any freaking warning! Like _that_!"

Smiling thinly at both the description of Yui's actions and the... _enthusiastic_ but inadequate motioning that accompanied them, Shinji fully understood what the young woman before him meant.

"Sometimes, I guess? She normally spends more time on the former, though. It's just how she is." Suddenly, the young man seemed to remember something and his smile became crooked. He continued talking after some slight hesitation... "Umm... S-She didn't try...?"

...before falling quiet once more, for some reason that Asuka couldn't quite follow.

"Didn't try what?" the girl pressed with her characteristic impatience.

A course of action that elicited the first of two usual responses from Shinji Ikari: backing out and recalling whatever it was that he was debating to share, much to Asuka's annoyance.

"N-Nothing. It's... not important."

"You know, you shouldn't say anything in the first place if you're going to leave the other person hanging like that." The redhead grumped, renewing her hold on her fork and making to continue eating. She stopped short of scooping the next load of rice, however, abruptly remembering one of the things that had been out of place with Ikari. "She called me a Tulip. Is that your not-so-important thing?"

Slightly surprised, Shinji brought his gaze to rest back on Asuka's face. He remained like that for a short moment, no doubt pondering the accuracy of the comparison that had been first coined by Yui Ikari, before the noticeable narrowing of the redhead's eyes let him know in no uncertain terms that dangerous things lay down that road.

"Y-Yeah, I guess." The boy agreed, quickly tearing his eyes to the side. "Huh... Is that all she did?"

"Well, yeah," Asuka answered, matter-of-factly. "What else could she do?"

'A lot of things' was the answer to that question, apparently. If Shinji's reaction of sheer relief was to be believed, in any case.

"G-Good. That's _good,_ " the young Lord breathed out, visibly _far_ more relaxed than he had just been a moment before. "I guess that Horaki-san being close by kept Mom in check."

With the small amount of rice still suspended halfway to her mouth, Asuka blinked as she tried to figure out just what in blazes Shinji was talking about. The redhead quickly gave up on such effort, however, deciding that whatever it was, she honestly didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

She had enough on her plate as it was, literally and figuratively.

"...Okay? Damn, you people are _weird_."

What followed was a companionable silence that settled between the two of them, as Asuka finished the rest of her lunch in a few decently-sized bites. She kept an eye on Shinji as she did so, and noticed with little effort on her part that the boy had gone back to looking morose for some reason or another, something that Asuka wasn't willing to tolerate.

He should be thankful of being willingly allowed the privilege of her company, after all. Looking glum at such a time was nothing short of insulting.

 _'Besides, listening to whatever's troubling his comfy life should make up for what I owe him, right?'_

Her mind set, Asuka grabbed hold of her fork and set it down on the table with slightly more force than was necessary. The gesture had the desired effect of making Shinji jump slightly, his attention completely on her once more.

"Okay," the redhead demanded, fixing her eyes on her quarry. "Out with it, Ikari."

"O-Out with what?"

"Are you stupid? With whatever's bothering you, of course! You look like someone kicked your puppy, for God's sake!"

Realising that playing dumb wasn't going to deter the redhead, Shinji's gaze fell to the side once more and he nervously brought a hand to the back of his head, falling back on his back up strategy.

"It's nothing important..."

Asuka, for her part, shot down the young man's attempts at evasion with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, I know, it's _never_ anything important, just like last time. But you're _not_ pussyfooting your way out of this one, just so you know. Out with it, I said." Feeling confident enough in her control of the conversation, Asuka crossed her arms and reclined back before continuing. "I mean, it's not that I care, but you got me a fork, so fair's fair."

"B-But I didn't do that expecting repayment!"

"And I don't like debts, perceived or otherwise. You should know that already," Asuka continued mercilessly, further strengthening her position with every passing second. "Besides, cutlery aside, I also recently found out that you were keeping an eye on me as I recovered. That's all the more reason for me to help you with your little problem, whether you want me to or not."

Seeing that all the defensive lines of his verbal fort were quickly crumbling one after another, Shinji let out a big sigh and waved the white flag, surrendering himself to the circumstances. There was no stopping the hell march of Asuka Sohryu when she decided to get pushy, after all.

"Gee, that's really nice of you, Sohryu-san." He spoke sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at the girl.

"I know! Aren't you lucky! Being nice and understanding is an integral part of a heroine's job, you know?" Asuka leaned towards the boy and smiled, an evil and dangerous smirk that spoke of immeasurable pain that would befell the foolish; Shinji, despite what the redhead may think, was not stupid enough to test his luck any further. "I'm ready when you are, by the way, so it's your call on how hard you want us to go on this."

"Dear Lady, Asuka-chan!" a third voice suddenly cut in, in a teasing and irritating tone that Asuka was painfully familiar with, already. "Is that a proposal for some... _torrid_ acts that I'm hearing? I didn't think you'd be so forward~!"

The young woman slowly moved back towards her seat and turned to address the newcomer with a deep sigh, finding the Captain of the Akuro militia clad in her usual practice armour and cheshire smile.

"Oh, hey Katsuragi," Asuka replied, her dry tone speaking volumes about her thoughts. "What is it? Did your unending supply of alcohol finally die out? Here for a few hundred extra bottles?"

"That sentence doesn't make much sense, Asuka-chan," Misato deflected just as easily, before going back on the offence. "Strange, for you. Is it the heat of the moment, I wonder~?"

"You wish. What I said makes about as much sense as what you did," the redhead scoffed, pointing her thumb in Shinji's direction. "I have zero interest in imitating whatever goes through your dirty imagination with anyone, let alone with _him_."

"Is that so? Well _I_ think that the lady doth protest too-"

The distinct sound of hands striking wood brought a premature end to Misato's words. The gesture, even if very far from being a loud slam, was enough to turn the gazes of the two women towards the person responsible for it.

Shinji had just stood up from his seat, his face hidden by the fringe of his hair.

"Excuse me."

Without any more words, the young man turned and hurriedly left. For a moment, Asuka thought that he was simply embarrassed by Katsuragi's usual bullshit and making a tactical retreat, but a closer look at his parting form quickly brought down that theory.

Shinji's right hand was tightly clenched, hard enough for the whites of his knuckles to be clearly visible. He was obviously pretty angry, and it didn't take the raven-haired young man much time at all to disappear from sight and further within the castle.

 _'...That's a first.'_ Asuka thought, blinking but not removing her gaze for a few seconds from where the boy had last been. Eventually, she turned to face Misato again, and found her staring at the same spot with a neutral look on her face.

"What was that about?" the young woman questioned, just the _tiniest_ little bit concerned. "Did I hurt his feelings, or something?"

"I'm afraid that you had little to do with his bad mood, Sohryu," the Captain scratched the back of her head with a grimace. "Well... That attempt backfired horribly."

 _'Attempt? Backfire?'_ the redhead wondered, trying to figure out what exactly Misato was talking about.

She quickly abandoned those efforts and settled for the direct method, instead.

"...What's going on here?"

"Nothing that's your responsibility to clear, Asuka." Misato deflected once more, before shaking her head and turning her attention back to the redhead. "In any case, jokes aside: how're you feeling? Are you finished with your meal?"

The redhead narrowed her eyes at the older woman, both because she had failed to answer her question and due to her acquired familiarity with the woman's antics ringing alarm bells all over her thoughts.

"I'm fine on both accounts, what of it?"

"I'd like for you to help me with something, and to get you back in shape as soon as possible while we're at it," Misato spoke calmly, crossing her arms and falling into her commanding persona (much to Asuka's relief). "I gather that you are in the know about things already?"

"Yeah, I am. Invisible army of some sort marching towards here," Asuka replied, the sarcasm in her voice showing just how ridiculous she found the idea still. "Not what I had planned to find when I first came here, but it sounds fun."

"Yeah... _'Fun'_ is probably not the word I'd use to describe our situation, but hopefully it'll be as easy as that sounds," the Captain returned with a tired smile, before turning around and motioning for Asuka to follow her. "For now, though, come with me to the place where we sparred. I'll explain the rest once we're there."

"Actually," said redhead cut in, bringing Katsuragi to a stop. She then grabbed hold of the small wooden box she had been gifted and surreptitiously hid it within her clothes, confident in the fact that Misato had failed to notice it so far. "Mind if I take a moment to go back to my room? I've got something that I need to leave there."

Confidence that lasted for about as long as it took Misato to turn around once more, sporting her customary and irritating teasing smile.

"What, Shinji-kun's present? Sure, be quick and leave it somewhere safe. You know, among the important, _important_ belongings?"

"...And exactly how long were you listening in on us, you nosy old woman?"

"Long enough to feel safe with mentioning that you should probably learn how to say _'Thank you'_ from time to time, kiddo," the Captain counselled, turning around and managing to make it to the exit of the canteen. "In any case, I'll go ahead and wait for you at the training grounds. Be there in five."

-]LotF[-

"...Okay, so let me see if I got this straight: you want me to face off against Miss Perfect over there?"

"If by that you mean the young woman that's kindly allowing you to take cover behind _her_ walls, then yes, that's exactly what I said."

"And it's fine for me to do that?" Asuka pressed, the Captain's pointed stare bouncing off her like a harmless pebble. "Isn't the Lady going to, you know, throw a fit at me hurting her _dearest_?"

"You don't have to worry about that, Ikari-dono already agreed to the match. She said that, and I quote: _'The spirit of cooperation is well worth a bruise or two. Two in harmony surpass one in perfection.'_ " Misato cited, eyes closed and bringing a finger up like a lecturing teacher. She then grabbed hold of a practice spear from a nearby weapon rack and passed it over to the redhead. "And I agree completely with her. If Rei's going to be supporting the militia in an official manner from now on, we can't have the two of you at each other's throats when it matters."

Said redhead scoffed in response at her words, however, furrowing her brow and crossing her arms in indignation.

"I'm a _professional_. I won't let something as petty as personal dislikes get in the way of my job. Who do you take me for?" Asuka exclaimed loudly, jutting a thumb towards Rei in the same manner she'd done with her brother mere moments before. "Besides, the whole idea is silly. As much as I'm going to enjoy it, it's not like beating the crap out of Blue is going to make me fall in love with her, you know?"

"For once, I find myself agreeing with her, Katsuragi-san," Rei's cool and collected opinion came from the other side of the ring. "I see very little point to this exercise."

"Maybe so, but I say that it's better safe than sorry and that you'll use the practice anyway, Rei-chan. I don't need the two of you to like each other, but you _do_ need to work out something good enough to allow the kind of teamwork that I expect out of every other militia member." The Captain smiled widely, bringing a hand to her hip in a show of confidence. "It may sound weird, but this exercise and some other similar ones have been effective at doing just that other times. I'm sure that they'll come through for me one more time!"

The two young women and future combatants shared a look at the words let out by their senior. Needless to say, neither Asuka nor Rei shared in the optimism of Misato Katsuragi, and the ominous sounding talk of future events that she had discretely shared filled the both of them with a distinct feeling of foreboding dread.

Not that such a small thing was about to deter the head of the militia, even if it was clearly written on their mismatched faces. She stepped forward and placed herself in between the two girls, before seriously starting to speak one more time.

"Standard rules apply, you two: no underhanded tricks, below the belt strikes or hitting your opponent while they're down. There will be no scoring for this session, and I'll keep the match going until one of you yields or can't keep on sparring." Misato paused, making eye contact with the two before she continued. "Let's have a good fight, understood?"

Both girls nodded their heads in agreement, with some reluctance. Asuka and Rei then made their way to their respective edges, looking to finish preparing for their unexpected sparring session.

Before long, the two of them were ready, and the feeling of dismay at what the future may hold found itself quickly replaced by a deep determination, and a need to prove themselves superior to their opponent.

"Do not worry, Sohryu-san," Rei spoke, her robes flailing slightly in the ambient wind and the foci on her wrists slowly beginning to hum louder and louder with accumulating mana. "I will be kind enough to lend you a hand up when we are done."

"Right," the redhead shot back, smirking confidently and putting her practice spear on a low guard. "Forgive me if I don't return the gesture when I'm done knocking you off your high horse, _Your Highness._ "

From her position in the centre, Misato took the back-and-forth taunting to signify that the two young women were prepared. Wasting no time, she raised her hand high up in the air, and then brought it back down shortly after.

 **"** _ **BEGIN!**_ **"**

-]LotF[-

Pushing herself upwards and off the ladder she'd been climbing, Misato Katsuragi arrived at her destination, the top of one of the wooden watchtowers of Akuro castle. Wasting just enough time on pleasantries for the previous occupant of the fortification, a sandy-haired boy that was busying himself with dutifully cleaning a long-barrelled matchlock, the Captain proceeded to peer attentively at the construction efforts that were currently underway all over the keep. The high vantage point offered her a privileged view of the status of the defensive emplacements all around, something absolutely indispensable for the proper planning of defensive stratagems.

As an added bonus, the height of the tower would also serve as a very good way of keeping their conversation out of range of prying ears. Almost assuredly an unnecessary precaution, but in light of their odds, Misato wasn't willing to leave even the smallest of details up to Fate.

"How are we doing?", she questioned, even as the woman tried her best to ascertain the answer by herself.

"We're ahead of schedule as far as the defences go, and we're finally finished with clearing the inner plateau and putting all the things in stockpile," the young man responded, not taking his eyes away from his work. "The training of the new recruits isn't going all that well, though."

"What's the problem?"

"Simply put, we don't have enough Tanegashima to go around," the boy explained, shifting his cleaning efforts to a few indentations on the wood around the barrel. "Our stocks were meant to equip the Watchers, after all, so that's around two hundred matchlocks tops. I've had Satsuma the blacksmith and everyone with even the slightest idea of working wood and iron producing new weapons day and night but, even then, I doubt that we'll break the four hundred mark with enough time for training to spare. And that's without going into the quality the rushed weapons will lack, of course."

"Quality isn't an issue right now, Aida," pausing in her scanning for just enough time to look at Kensuke Aida out of the corner of her eye, Misato firmly shot down his worried remark. "We just need the matchlocks to be able to fire five or six volleys at short-to-mid range, without much vertical deviation. They can fall apart after that for all we care."

The bespectacled young man put up his hands in response, offering an understanding smile.

"I know, I know, but I'm still worried about them blowing up in some poor sap's face, which is pretty much bound to happen at some point. There's nothing that can be done about that, though." Kensuke then stood up and grabbed hold of his unusually long weapon, putting it into firing position and scrutinizing the view with a knowing eye for a few seconds. With a throaty sound of satisfaction, he put it back down shortly after. "In any case, I'm just working on training those recruits that have previous experience with hunting for now, or that just show an affinity for firearms. The idea is to have this unit work with the militia during the opening stage of the battle, try to inflict as many casualties as humanly possible. They'll then fall back to the secondary position atop the inner wall, and rain down supporting fire on the melee while the militia do their thing."

Following the invisible line made by Kensuke's fingers towards the main part of the wall that was expected to receive the brunt of the enemy attack, the Captain silently nodded her agreement.

"And the others?"

"They'll be practicing how to use a yari with Horaki-san. I'm not expecting miracles, but they should be able to form a decent spear wall between them and the enemy when the time comes, and make the job of the flanking units all that much easier."

Having had her full attention on her aide's explanation, Misato couldn't help but notice a slight shifting of Aida's tone towards the neutral. It was subtle, but fairly noticeable when compared with the usual bubbly backdrop that talk of guns or explosives always seemed to bring to the young man's voice.

Slightly worrying, to say the least.

"You sound troubled."

Kensuke, for his part, didn't even appear surprised at the effortless notice of his uncertainty. Instead, he shrugged dismissively, fixating his eyes on the spot he had pointed at a mere moment before.

"Yeah, well... I didn't exactly have an enjoyable time weeding out the ones that would get a matchlock and telling the rest to go grab a yari, to be honest." The young man admitted with a deep sigh. "I mean, most of those people have never held anything resembling a weapon for most of their lives, and our best bet for making it out of this alive involves pitting them face-to-face against an enemy that we don't even know? It's just..."

"It's going to be bloody, no doubt about that," Misato finished, opposing her companion's worry with a far more positive tone. "But as you said, it's our best chance at victory. Besides, the back of a spear wall will probably be the second safest spot on the entire battlefield so long as we do our jobs, and it _will_ fall to us to try and lessen the power of the strike the recruits will have to endure as much as possible."

"And in slightly brighter news, I might just have the tools for the job!" Kensuke added as he pretty much pounced on the supply bag that he'd brought up the tower, his spirit suddenly emboldened once more."

A short period of frenzied rummaging later, and Kensuke proudly brought out his vaunted tool out of its container: a jet-black sphere, smooth and reflective of the sun's rays, with a thin cord of rope sticking out at the top.

A familiar and unsurprising shape, that Misato had seen many times before.

"Is that a firebomb?" Misato questioned, puzzled and in direct contrast to the young man's wide grin.

"Close, but not really. These little babies are something different that I've been working on for a while now."

"Different how?" the Captain narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the sphere for any differences to the weapons she knew but finding none. "It looks exactly like one of your usual firebombs to me."

"Maybe it does to the uninitiated eye, but when you get to the inside... it's completely different." Kensuke half-explained, allowing the tension to linger for several seconds longer than necessary and earning himself a narrow-eyed stare for very different reasons. "You see, Captain, these bombs are made of harder ceramic than usual and are also chock-full of gunpowder, rather than oil."

The Captain's ears visibly perked at the mention of the word _'gunpowder'_ , suddenly taking a _far_ keener interest in the hand-sized ball.

"...Go on."

"Gladly," the young man acquiesced, his grin somehow becoming even wider. "As far as usage goes, it works by lighting the fuse in pretty much the same way as a normal firebomb but, when the time comes, the gunpowder explodes and blasts tiny little pieces of ceramic all around it at the speed of matchlock bullets. It will shred through exposed skin and light armour with little effort, but I expect them to struggle a bit more against heavily armoured infantry. Regular firebombs might still be a better choice against those."

Kensuke's explanations were accompanied by exaggerated (and a bit _too_ enthusiastic) mimicry, his words going up and well into the realm of unnecessary shouting by the end of it. It was honestly pretty funny to watch, but very much contrary to the purpose of having chosen the watchtower as a meeting spot in the first place.

It was nice to see some of the young man's usual antics making a comeback, though, so Misato settled for an amused smile rather than a chastising remark.

"You're having way too much fun with all of this, Aida."

"Well, I'm not thrilled about the idea of being invaded, but it's nice having a chance to put all my knowledge to good use." Kensuke replied good-humouredly, catching his breath and crouching to put the makeshift explosive back in its bag. "'Tis a pretty big part of what I do, after all."

Grunting in approval of Kensuke's words, the woman focused the conversation on the second important topic that she intended to pursue.

"So. What was your opinion on the sparring match?" Misato questioned, turning to eye the training field where she had been a few minutes before. "You _did_ keep an eye out for it, right?"

"Of course I did," the sandy-haired man replied, holding up a thin, tubular device for the Captain to see before stuffing it back into the bag. "Did you, though?"

Slightly taken aback by the unexpected comment, Misato regarded her companion with surprise.

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean that you looked surprisingly out of it for having had two young women blast each other with spears and magic a few steps from you." Kensuke elaborated, standing back up and joining Misato at the edge of the tower. "Something happen?"

"And here I thought I'd done a good job of keeping it down," the older woman snorted, throwing away her half-hearted attempt at affectation. "Nothing gets by you, does it?"

"Of course not. How could I be the Captain's eyes without attention to detail?"

"Good point." Misato conceded, surrendering herself to the need for explanations with a deep sigh that spoke of equally deep troubles. "And in regards to me, well nothing much important happened. Just that I managed to screw things up with Shinji-kun even more."

"That so?" Kensuke replied offhandedly, almost as if he'd been expecting the answer. "You should just give him some space, then. He'll come up and speak with you himself when he's ready to do so."

A response that was quickly met with a sharp look from the Captain.

" _Right_. Because doing that's worked out _so_ well in the past."

"With all due respect, Captain, Shinji's not a kid anymore," the young man shot back, his words slightly more severe than they'd previously been. "None of us are. I wouldn't be up here cleaning a matchlock or making explosives otherwise."

"Of course I realise-"

"No, you _don't._ " Kensuke cut off through the Captain's rising indignation softly, but firmly. "If that were so, you wouldn't have organised that excursion behind his back. But you did, because deep down, and regardless of what you said to Sohryu every time she brought up the topic in the past, you don't think Shinji's ready for his responsibilities."

"And do you?"

"What _I_ think doesn't matter for the purpose of doing my job. But if you must know, no, I don't think so," Kensuke admitted, catching Misato slightly off-guard. "I'm willing to let Shinji try, fail, and learn, though. Sheltering him from the hard decisions doesn't do anyone any favours."

The Captain scoffed softly in response, narrowing her eyes even further. If the metaphorical daggers that were being thrown his way affected him in any way, though, Kensuke didn't let it show.

"Easy for you to say."

"Sure, it is. That's why I'm actually saying so. In any case, your predictions for the fight were pretty much spot-on," the young man smoothly continued, switching moods and topics with practiced ease. "As you said, Sohryu put on a good show, both by proving that she's not all talk with a weapon and that she can think on her feet. It's true that Rei made the glaring mistake of falling into a predictable pattern by the end of things, but... Well, taking into account that Sohryu was at a big disadvantage from the very start, I have to give her credit for lasting as long as she did and managing to pull off a draw. I honestly can't think of many folks that would be able to top that."

Wordlessly agreeing to Kensuke's unspoken truce, Misato refocused on the topic as well.

"That's what I thought as well. I was considering having her lead one of the flanking units, and for Kodama to handle the other one."

"I don't think so," Kensuke quickly disagreed. "Putting my bias aside, it's clear as day that she's not leader material. Sohryu's too independent and too..."

"...Bitchy?"

"Your words, not mine. But yeah," the young man agreed with a shrug. "She might be a great fighter, and maybe even be capable of sound decisions under pressure, but trust and loyalty are not something that you earn in a single day, or even a week. Unit cohesion would be a mess, and that's a best case scenario."

"I see your point," Misato acknowledged without further argument, having already foreseen such a response. "So, you think Suzuhara is better?"

"As far as actual leadership ability goes? No. But the men respect him and his combat skills, even if he's younger than most. It's not perfect, but it's one less thing that can go wrong on that front."

Misato's response was little more than a soft throaty sound, her thoughts running through force compositions, placement and potential scenarios at rapid speeds.

"I guess that means that we'll be having Sohryu working under Ko-chan, then," the Captain mused aloud, thinking of the possible drawbacks such an arrangement could cause. "Hopefully that won't cause any problems."

"Eh, it'll be fine. I caught a glimpse of them earlier and it looked like they hit it off pretty well, so I'd say there are no worries on that side. For all her faults, Sohryu seems to hold those she considers friends in high regard, if Hikari-san is any indication." Kensuke then suddenly produced another small device from a hidden pocket, throwing it over and into the Captain's waiting hands. "She's pretty darn useful on the economic side of things, too."

Blinking in slight surprise, Misato took a look at the item she'd been lent, recognizing it instantly: it was an aqua-blue coloured spherical stone mounted on top of a circular golden coloured base, and fit snugly within her hand.

The woman met Kensuke's expectant look with a raised eyebrow, before flicking a switch at the base of the device and focusing her attention back on it. Before long, the surface of the stone began to glow with a pale sheen, before turning transparent and showing an image within, one that caught Misato somewhat flat-footed.

For it was a picture of one Asuka Sohryu, as she had been expecting, but said young woman was _smiling broadly_. Almost side to side, as a matter of fact, which considering that Misato had not seen even a fragment of that in all her time with the girl, was saying something.

Looking into the details, Misato guessed that the image had probably been taken shortly after Asuka's arrival, judging by the fact that the redhead was wearing the same armour from their first meeting, something that she had not done within castle grounds on most occasions ever since. The location was certainly one of the relaxing spots from the inner walls, as the flora and caged birds in the sides and background indicated.

All in all, Misato had to admit that it was a _very_ good picture, a true testament to Aida's good artistic eye. And something that would have stayed at that had its existence not hinted at an affair that Misato would have preferred stay buried.

"Huh. Nice." The Captain commented half-heartedly, hiding her approval and lightly throwing the device back to its owner. She then fixed him with a sideways half-glare. "I thought you were done with your undercover picture business, though?"

Aida shrugged nonchalantly one more time, launching into a light-hearted explanation of his actions.

"I was, but then I decided to risk bringing it back a while ago for the sake of funding my research. The necessary materials for building all my toys and helpful devices don't come cheap, you know?" the young man launched the device into the air as he spoke, making it spin and deftly catching it in mid air a few times. "Besides, the men and women of Akuro could use every little morale boost in these trying times. Offering them the chance to acquire a beautiful picture of the people they admire is just my attempt at pitching in on the greater good."

"Spoken like a true merchant." Misato scoffed, considering what she should do with her newfound knowledge. It didn't take her long to come to the conclusion that, regardless of Kensuke's supposed good intentions, she honestly had bigger fish to fry for the time being. "Right, I'll keep it hush for the time being, greater good and all that. But just so you know, I'm _not_ covering for you if this ends up blowing up in your face, Aida." Misato's warning was followed by a glare that a certain redhead would have loved to call her own. "Oh, and of course, I'll have your balls on a silver platter if word of you reverting to your old ways ever reaches my ears. So long as the pictures are taken like you did Sohryu's it's fine, but anything more intruding or improper than that and we'll be having _words_.Are. We. Clear?"

"Crystal. You don't have to worry about that, though. Not fourteen anymore, remember?" Kensuke casually shot back, earning himself an exasperated shake of the head and a muttered comeback that he chose to ignore. He then gingerly put the strange device in with the rest of his things, and found Misato preparing to depart by the time that he rose up. "Where are you heading now?"

"Hikari's workshop. She should be done with our two proud warriors by now," the Captain replied over her shoulder, grabbing hold of the ladder and quickly stepping downwards. "Continue the preparations and keep me posted on any changes in our schedule. I'll see you later."

-]LotF[-

The sun shone brightly over the city of Tokyo, the heat and humidity of the days of summer making the people of the proud city that weren't lucky enough to capture a spot of shade swelter under the blazing star above. Complaints and encouragements were shared in equal measure from the trading district and all the way to the castle, and the usual lively buzzing that would reach Tokyo's keep shifted to a lethargic moan barely strong enough to be audible to someone paying attention.

Not that the three young people hastily making travel preparations fit into that description. The two male parts of the equation ran back and forth from the barracks to the castle walls, bringing in supplies and weaponry to a trio of waiting pegasi at the behest of their mistress, one not to be contravened.

"Musashi, Keita! Hurry it up!" Mana Kirishima barked at her compatriots, fighting the last of the latches that she needed to fasten. "Raiden's ready, and the wind's going to shift on us if we lose any more time!"

"Easy for you to say," the dark haired boy shot back, barely managing to precariously balance the contents of his arms. "Want to try lifting one of these, you slave driver?"

"Hey, who are you calling a slave driver?!"

"You have to ask?! Maybe the one that's standing around while we do all the work?!"

"I'm not standing around, I'm organizing our stuff!" Mana protested, turning around with her hands on her hips. "Lady knows I can't leave that to either of-!"

Further criticism died in Mana's mouth, her eyes widening as she stared past Musashi and caught sight of a svelte young woman quietly watching the proceedings from the door to the battlements. Realising that she'd been noticed, the woman smiled and stepped forward and onto the wall proper, her greyish eyes twinkling with mirth and flowing, black hair dancing with the light breeze.

"You two are as loud as ever, aren't you?"

"C-C-Captain Yayoi?!" Mana stammered, watching Captain Tsubasa Yayoi, the beautiful woman that she'd been actively looking to avoid that day, steadily walking closer. The Captain made a beeline for the still recovering young brunette, her eyes pointedly taking note of the almost finished preparations and her amiable expression fading away as she did so.

"So, you're truly leaving," The Captain stated, all cheerfulness now completely gone from her voice. "Honestly, you're unbelievable, Mana. To think that I had to find out about your plans from Kurusu-san. Is this really the kind of thanks a teacher should get from her star pupil?"

"I'm sorry, it's just that..." the young girl quietly responded, her eyes falling to the side and suddenly feeling quite a few years younger. "I was sure you'd try to keep us from leaving, Tsubasa-san."

"Of course I would. We have our orders, after all," Tsubasa replied, matter-of-factly. "You do realise that going against those is going to ruffle some feathers, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know." Mana admitted, before balling her fists and raising her eyes once more. "But I can't just sit here doing nothing! The people of Akuro need help, and we're the Skyguard! Isn't it part of our duty to protect those in need? To uphold the justice that had been so lacking in Yamato in the past?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

"Then _why_ aren't we doing anything?!"

"Because the Empress wishes it so," Tsubasa retorted sternly, crossing her arms before her. "Upholding the law and pursuing the wicked might be an important part of our duties as Skyguard, but we are the Empress' spear first and foremost. We smite her enemies if commanded to, but stay back and shield her when required as well, just like we've been ordered to. It's all there in our oath of fealty, remember? I hope you do, because you're supposed to take it the day after tomorrow in light of your mission's positive evaluation." The Captain's eyes then moved from Mana to the three pegasi in the background, looking at their owners and the conversation with growing curiosity. "Then again, and judging by your current plans, am I correct in thinking that you don't plan on going ahead with it?"

For the second time the young brunette's eyes met the stone floor, a deep feeling of shame threatening to overflow from within. Mana remained as such for several seconds, bearing the judging stare of someone she had almost considered a mother figure for the longest time, and trying to think of a response that didn't sound too much like a betrayal.

Her efforts proved unsuccessful.

"I-" Mana eventually muttered, her words sounding much weaker than she would have wanted them. "I'm sorry, Tsubasa-san. If swearing my oath means turning a blind eye to what I've seen, then I can't do it."

"I expected as much." The Captain commented, her words coated with a faint sharpness. She then turned her attention to the two boys that had stealthily moved to flank Mana on both sides. "What about the both of you? Musashi, Keita?"

Both boys shared a short and meaningful look, quickly reaching an unspoken agreement and turning to address their mentor. Keita was the first one to speak, his ever-present smile never leaving his face.

"Wherever Mana goes, we follow."

With Musashi immediately hooking a thumb in his partner's direction.

"What he said."

Captain Yayoi raised an eyebrow at their response, though whether the slight movement was due to approval or disregard, the pair couldn't tell.

"Even if it could land you in trouble by association?"

Without any need to contrast opinions, both young knights nodded their head resolutely and almost in sync. Mana, for her part, had her own head shifting back and forth between the two boys, a noticeable blush that was equal parts shock and embarrassment taking over her cheeks.

"G-Guys! What are you saying all of a sudden?!"

"That's just how it is," Musashi shrugged, awkwardly shifting to look in the other direction. "You might be a pain sometimes, but you're still the squad leader."

"Our fortunes rise and fall together," Keita added from the other side, chuckling softly. "I think that's what Musashi's meaning to say."

"Guys..."

No sooner did she speak that Mana quickly hid her expression behind her hands, even if her efforts proved very much inadequate at hiding the relentless flushing of her face. Shortly after, the young brunette began to weep quietly, the sounds quickly alerting her two friends even if it was clear that her mood wasn't a sorrowful one.

"Hey, hey... are you crying?" Musashi ventured, halfway expecting the brunette to latch onto him like old times. "Aren't you a bit old for that?"

"Don't be silly, I'm just fifteen! And it's you two's fault in the first place for saying stuff like that out of nowhere!" Mana replied, sobbing softly but still managing a wide grin behind her hands. "You're never too old for a good cry, anyway."

"Well..." the boy shrugged, returning a smaller smile. "Guess you got a point, there."

"...Such loyalty." The Captain suddenly intruded, her words sounding a bit less stern than they'd previously been. They were still just as effective in bringing attention to her, however. "But after seeing that, I guess there is little for me to do but give you my blessing."

"You- You'll let us go?"

"Do I really have a choice? It's clear that forcing you to stay right now is only going to be delaying the inevitable, anyway." Tsubasa justified drily, narrowing her eyes at the trio as if daring them to prove her wrong. When none of the three rose to the challenge, the young woman allowed her features to relax. "Although to be honest, I can't say that I'm completely against your actions, either. Worrying about the plots and power games of the Lords certainly has its merits, but I don't agree with holding back the entirety of the Skyguard to defend against whispers and lies. It's simply not good for morale."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you haven't been the only one to denounce our orders, Mana. There's a growing faction that believes we should be doing something, _anything_ , and even though they haven't yet been as proactive as you three, I'm well aware that it's only a matter of time until the murmurs grow stronger and into proper action. Especially with the current state of the country."

"That's..." Mana began before cutting herself off, her expression turning somewhat pained. "I didn't know. It sounds like hard work for you, Tsubasa-san."

"Yes, indeed. That sounds about right," the Captain agreed with a deep sigh, before waving a dismissive hand at the topic. "In any case, I'll come up with something for dealing with your ceremony, so don't worry. And while you're still not standout members of the force, it'll probably be better for you three not to show up around Tokyo for a while, just in case."

Shaking her head at the enthusiastic nodding that answered her request, the older woman allowed herself a good-humoured smile. After all, and her own personal feelings aside, it was hard not to be swayed by her star pupil's sheer spunkiness.

"Still, it's a bit shocking to see you being this adamant, Mana. Is there some other reason why you want to so badly go to Akuro?"

In the blink of an eye the young brunette stopped all of her exuberant movement, suddenly becoming tense all over and turning so stiffly that she could have very well creaked. Staring straight at an eerily smiling Tsubasa and caught flat-footed by the sudden question, it was all Mana could do to try and deflect it with her own sweetest smile, never mind the fact that it had never worked on Tsubasa of all people in the past.

The return of her luminescent blush wasn't helping matters, either.

"O-Of course not! Why would there be?"

A tilt of the Captain's head and a face caught between disbelieving and amused were all the answer Mana received, doing little to ease her worries. A defeated sigh from Musashi's side further inflated her quickly rising dread.

"Drop the silly act, Mana, you're not fooling anyone. Besides, she knows already."

"W-Wha-!?" Mana exclaimed, turning to the boy in question with betrayed fury written all over her face. "M-Musashi, you traitor! What are you _doing_ babbling to the Captain about that!"

"And what was I supposed to say?! It's not like you were subtle!" the boy defended himself, equally as hotly. "I mean, daydreaming so hard that you walked into a closed door three times in under an hour? No wonder Tsubasa-san came to me asking what was wrong with you!"

"Okay, okay, let there be peace, you two," the Captain interrupted affably, putting herself in between the two warring parties before things could escalate into another of their usual arguments. "You don't want to bring any more attention to yourselves, right?" Tsubasa then turned towards the younger brunette with an encouraging smile. "Besides, Mana: there's nothing wrong with a girl that follows her heart, you know?"

"B-But I'm _not_ , though! This is just for purely professional reasons!" Mana frantically protested, lips pressed into an indignant pout. "Shinji-kun being there is just a side benefit."

Chuckling softly at the girl's antics but deciding not to pursue the teasing any further, Tsubasa shook her head and walked closer to the group, taking a small item out of a pouch at her side.

"I see, I see. Sorry for doubting your integrity, Mana, I guess I should have known better than to question my star pupil." The Captain spoke, gently taking hold of the brunette's hand and passing the small object to her. "In any case, and since you're clearly not going to be changing your mind, at least take this."

The item that was pressed into Mana's hand was an ornate ring, wide enough to fit around a female finger like hers. Its band was silvery in colour and it had a dark blue octagonal gem encrusted on top of an elaborate base, big enough to be noticeable but not large enough to be cumbersome or overtly gaudy. Even if she couldn't tell what sort of stone it used, Mana could infer that it was _expensive._

Mostly because it was a ring that the young girl very much recognized.

"Huh? I-Isn't this from-?"

"Yes. Think of it as a charm for good luck and safe travels on their behalf. They're the reason I decided to ask around about your plans in the first place, just so you know." Tsubasa shifted her hands and gently put them around Mana's face, recalling the girl's attention from the jewel and back towards her eyes. "I would also like to echo their sentiments, while I still have the chance. The world is a dangerous place for people as young as you, and unless you keep a constant vigil for peril, you'll never see it coming until it's too late."

Mana smiled at the Captain's concern, moving closer and putting her arms around her and into a tight hug.

"Of course, Tsubasa-san! We'll be careful."

"Thank you, Mana, that makes me feel a bit better." The Captain admitted, returning the hug and staying put for several seconds. Eventually, she parted slightly, affectionately ruffling Mana's hair and smiling at the two boys that were trying their hardest to give them some amount of privacy. "Nevertheless, I'd like to request Musa-kun and Kei-kun keep an eye on Mana for me, please? You know how reckless she can be from time to time."

"Hey!" the young girl blurted out, quickly breaking the hug. "I-I'm not-!"

"Leave it to us, Chief," Keita nodded reassuringly. "We'll make sure that she doesn't go in over her head."

"Somehow."

"Whaaaa-!" Mana stammered, looking from one of her friends to the other with a comically betrayed expression. "...You're not supposed to agree that quickly..."

Following that, some laughter was shared at Mana's expense and, after some light-hearted back-and-forth banter, the trio of neophyte pegasus knights finally took to the skies, their journey northeast temporarily disguised as a routine patrol route.

Captain Tsubasa Yayoi followed the retreating specks with her eyes until the distances involved no longer made it feasible to do so. With a worried sigh, she then turned around and made for the gate back to the keep and the workload that no doubt was awaiting her.

But the young woman had barely made it past the threshold when a deep, unexpected voice made her jump slightly, quickly snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Did you hand her the ring?"

"Stop that! Do you get a kick out of making me have heart attacks, or something?" Tsubasa growled, narrowing her eyes at the tall male that had decided to hide in the shadows for no other apparent reason than to annoy her. "But to answer your question, yes, I gave it to Mana just like you wanted. I don't see why you couldn't have given it to her yourself, though."

The shadowy figure offered nothing but a single nod in response, before turning around and briskly leaving through a side door and towards an unknown destination, much to the Captain's chagrin. Left to her own devices once more, and having added a healthy dose of irritation to her worries, Tsubasa rolled her eyes and refocused on her duties for the day.

A task that would no doubt be easier said than done.

"...Men."

-]LotF[-

"Thank you for your concern Asuka-san, but I'm fine, really," Hikari Horaki tiredly replied to the question that had been on everyone's minds since a few days before. The young woman then continued to gently scrub at her arm, the warmth of the bath water effortlessly washing away the accumulated dirt of a hard day's work. "I just haven't been sleeping all that well lately. It's really nothing to worry about."

Her redheaded friend shot Hikari a disbelieving look, submerging her body into the blissful heat as much as she could with a cast around her right arm. A dislocation suffered during her latest mock-fight that the younger Horaki had seen fit to not heal immediately via her abilities.

"You do realise that saying it's nothing to worry about has the exact opposite effect on people, right, Hikari?"

The brunette didn't offer an immediate answer to Asuka's rhetorical question, instead closing her eyes and sighing deeply, the displaced air creating small ripples on the water's surface.

"Hey, I'm not going to bug you about it if you don't want to," Asuka quickly added, easily inferring that the topic in question wasn't high on Hikari's list of wants. "It's just that it was your first time watching the results of actual combat, and I've seen people coping badly with that stuff before. I don't want my friend going through that on her own, so just know that if you want to talk, you can tell me and I'll do what I can."

At that, the brunette raised her eyes once more with a relieved breath, this time sporting a small smile on her face.

"Thanks, Asuka."

The young mercenary nodded, mostly satisfied, although she didn't miss the fairly noticeable hint of melancholy lining her friend's words. Not that there was much of anything that she could do about that without Hikari being cooperative, short of finding something else to talk about that would end up lifting her spirits.

Easier said than done, considering the situation of the castle town and that Asuka herself had been sleeping and out of the loop until just recently. Thankfully for the younger Horaki, however, Asuka Sohryu wasn't a woman known for giving up.

Determined, the redhead scoured her mind for topics she could use and, surprisingly, came up with something far quicker than she had expected. The fact that inspiration had struck from something Hikari had just said probably had something to do with that.

"Hey," Asuka said, smirking confidently. "You didn't use the '-san' this time around."

"Huh?" Hikari looked back at her friend weirdly, considering what she meant until her brain caught up with her unintended mistake. "Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

The redhead quickly cut off the rushed apologies with a wave of her good hand, indicating that she didn't mind in the slightest.

"It's fine, it's fine! I actually prefer it like that, honestly. All those honorifics that you guys are so stubborn with sound pretty silly to me." Hikari blinked, not really following the logic behind Asuka's words. Seeing this, the redhead elaborated. "I mean, friends should just call each other by their names, right? The whole honorific thing makes it sound like you're keeping people at a distance, or something."

Now fully understanding what her friend was saying, the brunette sighed softly and shook her head.

"Sorry, it's just customary. I didn't want for it to come across like that, though."

"No worries. Can you to try and drop them when you're talking with me, though? I'll feel more comfortable like that, I think, and I'm sure that you'll be thinking the same before you can realise."

Bringing her gaze to the side and grabbing hold of a lock of wet hair between her fingers, Hikari pondered the proposal for a few moments. It wasn't long before she reached a decision, nodding at her friend with a smile.

"Okay, if you want me to; _Asuka_."

"Good girl." Asuka smiled back.

The sudden sound of a sliding door and footsteps coming closer cut into any further attempts at conversation and, curious, both young women turned to look at the source of the disturbance.

"Oh, Horaki-san, Sohryu-san. I didn't realise that the bath was in use," said disturbance spoke, clad in nothing but a cloth towel and a small patch covering their left eye. "Would you mind my joining?"

"I-Ikari-dono?!" Hikari all but jumped up at the sight of Rei Ikari, splashing water all around her. Still in shock, the young brunette quickly looked between the waiting Lady and her friend (who was now openly scowling at the new arrival), before her survival instincts took hold of her actions. "D-Don't worry, my Lady, I was just leaving! You can have my spot!"

"There's no need for you to-"

"Please, I _insist_ , Ikari-dono!" Hikari hastily cut her off, bringing up the sweetest smile she could muster. "I would _love_ nothing but to stay a bit longer, but I've got _so_ many things that I have yet to do before the day's over! By all means, don't worry about myself and use this opportunity to relax, my Lady. G-Goodbye!"

Her words resounding within the bathing area, the drops of water left behind by her movement barely had enough time to rejoin their brethren before Hikari Horaki was out of the room, the sliding door closing behind her equally as quickly.

Blinking as she stared at the shut door and listened to the faint sounds of Hikari frantically making her exit, Rei eventually sighed sadly and slowly made her way towards the water.

"...Wow. She totally ran away," Asuka drily commented with a raised eyebrow, as Rei discarded her towel and made her way into the bath, making herself comfortable in the water. "Shame on you, Blue; you scared her off."

Grabbing hold of some nearby cleaning utensils, the bluenette started in on her brushing before properly responding to the redhead.

"I would wager that Horaki-san was more scared of your usual reactions than anything else, Sohryu-san."

"Bite me," Asuka shot back, scoffing. "What are _you_ doing here, anyway?"

"Bathing, obviously."

"I can _see_ that. Don't you high and mighty nobles have a bath of your own, though?"

"No, we don't. That would be an unnecessary expense, which I believe is answer enough." Pausing in her scrubbing for a second, Rei made eye contact with the young woman in front of her before she next spoke. "I imagined that you would have already inferred as much, Sohryu-san, or have you already forgotten the debacle of your first day in Akuro?"

Asuka winced in embarrassment at the words, the event that Rei was referring to suddenly and unwillingly making it to the forefront of her mind.

"...I _had_ until you brought it back up. _Thank you_."

"You're welcome."

For a fleeting moment, Asuka considered getting up and leaving Rei alone in the baths, but that course of action was quickly and ruthlessly shot down. Not out of any desire to tolerate the young Lady's presence (or even worse, _willingly_ _spend time with her_ ), but rather because doing so could be easily interpreted as Asuka running away from the situation.

And that just simply wouldn't do. Not around her nemesis, and certainly not at that time.

And so, Asuka remained inside of the warm bath water for far longer than she had initially intended while Rei went about keeping up proper hygiene. Asuka was fairly confident that her fingers would end up wrinkling because of her actions, but that was a low price to pay all things considered.

A much bigger problem presented itself when Asuka realised that there was surprisingly little to do in a bath once you were done cleaning yourself. At least, when she had company and humming or singing weren't much of a viable option.

In her hidden boredom, the redhead couldn't help but sneak some glances at the bathing bluenette, swiftly determining with some surprise that what hid under Rei's loose fitting clothes was a lithe body just like her own, albeit less muscular and with slightly more generous proportions (annoyingly enough). The part that drew Asuka's attention the most was certainly the girl's pale skin, however: smooth and with nary an imperfection that she could spot, almost like a doll's, and _very_ soft to the touch from what she could tell.

Asuka would hardly consider herself plain but, despite her best efforts, there was only so much she could do to take proper care of many parts of her body. Her own skin, for instance, was a far cry from Rei's after years of heavy workouts and rough travelling, and she seriously doubted her mane could ever compete with the sheer silkiness of her counterpart's hair.

To be completely honest, it made the girly part of her seethe with envy, on top of all her other Rei-related problems.

 _'Yet another thing that I'm not good enough at,'_ the young redhead inwardly sulked, her mind instantly reminded of her appalling performance some time before. _'How am I going to become a world-renowned heroine like this? How am I going to put her to shame when the time comes if I can't get that far? This isn't how it was supposed to go!'_ Asuka's blue eyes then focused sharply on her bathing companion, all pretext of subtlety thrown to the wind, and her left hand balled into a tight fist on her lap. _'And why does_ she _get to have such stupid luck in the draw, anyway?! She's a damn noble! It's not like she did or suffered through_ anything _to deserve it! This is so unfair...'_

"Please refrain from staring so intensely, Sohryu-san," Rei abruptly spoke, making the redhead jump in surprise. "It is uncomfortable, and I have no interest in the connotations of such an act."

"C-Connotations? The hell are you talking about?" Asuka replied, covering the embarrassment at being caught and her depressing train of thought with her usual antagonism. "I don't swing that way, not that there's anything wrong with it."

The enmity behind her discourse was met with the frigid wall of Rei's usual indifference, however, the bluenette continuing on her efforts with no sign of having even heard Asuka's words. A fact that, coupled with the downward spiral of her thoughts, left the young mercenary feeling more angry and frustrated than she had been in a very long time.

Anger that she saw very little reason not to take out on its source.

"It must be _so_ nice, though, being able to live _such_ a cushy life. Having no worries other than busying yourself with menial tasks and keeping everyone at your beck and call." Asuka's scathing remarks caused Rei to stop in her actions, her red eyes slowly turning to regard the redhead. Opportunity that Asuka used to turn up the heat further. "I mean, that brother of yours and your mom at least have that whole 'ruling the land' thing going for them, but what do _you_ even do around here, other than pamper the guy and creep people out?"

Her words filled with malice, Asuka fully intended to bait Rei into an argument or, even better, an actual fight, the consequences of which were somewhere in the back of her mind and being completely ignored. The young redhead had a single objective at that time: to veer her mind off the awfully familiar path that it was taking, no matter what.

But, much to the redhead's chagrin, such a development didn't actually come to happen.

"You may be right, my current efforts are clearly lacking," Rei replied, her expression turning pained and disgruntled. "It's no wonder that Mother is losing her patience with me. In most aspects, I am little more than a hindrance to her and Shinji as I am."

"H-Huh?"

"I am hopelessly behind where I should be," the bluenette continued, unaware of Asuka's shocked reaction to her agreement. "That must be why you so easily wrestled control of the initiative from me during our spar. No matter what Katsuragi-san says, it was clearly your victory, and-"

"Victory?! Don't give me that crap!" the redhead furiously interrupted, quickly standing up and towering over a stunned Rei. "It's obvious that the only reason I even managed to lay a finger on you is because you were an _idiot_ , so save your goddamn _pity!_ I've got the best military training in the world and plenty of combat experience, but none of that _matters_ because of you assholes and your magical _bullshit!_ _I_ am the useless one in this place!"

Asuka's words reverberated all over the small room, followed shortly after by the sound of her heavy breathing. Her hands were balled even tighter than they had been before in a clear sign of the unrelenting nature behind her fury. The redhead, however, couldn't tell at the time whether she was angry at Rei for daring to think her pathetic enough to deserve her pity, or at herself for blurting out her insecurities at the one person she didn't want to appear weak before.

 _'Goddamit, Asuka. You and your big mouth.'_

Seconds passed without any further word from either woman, lost in thought as they were and not really daring to look at each other for fear of complicating the situation even more. The both of them remained as such until, eventually, the shroud of heavy silence was pierced by an eerie and terrifying sound. One that would take years to fade from Asuka's psyche:

The laugh of Rei Ikari.

"...Is that so?" the young Lady spoke slowly and gravely as her mirthless chuckles died off, her eyes hidden by the fringe of her hair. "It would appear that we are both useless, then."

Rei's assertion went without argument, for the redhead found herself unable to act or speak, and barely able to even _think_ , in the face of something that she had deemed to be about as likely as Shinji growing an actual backbone.

"But that doesn't necessarily have to remain so," the bluenette continued, a determined glint passing through her eyes as she pushed herself up and out of the bath under Asuka's flabbergasted scrutiny. "As such, I would like to make a proposal to you, Sohryu-san. One that should prove beneficial to us both."

Finally managing to regain enough control over her brain functions to push Rei's bizarre behaviour out of her mind, the young mercenary's expression shifted towards wary interest, the shock having proven enough to erase most traces of her previous near-murderous rage.

"...Speak."

"Let us continue sparring from here on out, even after fulfilling Katsuragi-san's instructions," Rei explained, walking back to the clothing racks with Asuka a few steps behind her. "It is clear that my approach to fighting intelligent opponents lacks... finesse, and you could certainly use more experience in facing magic users."

"Yeah... That trade looks heavily skewed in your favour, Blue," Asuka replied with a shake of her head, having considered the offer for a few seconds. "After all, other than the people in this place, what are the chances of me finding myself in front of another of you overpowered weirdoes? You yourself said that mages are very rare, remember? And I don't think that whatever Katsuragi's doing is everyday knowledge, either."

"Magic users are not common, indeed, but we simply don't know what we'll be facing in our future encounters with the Apostles. We cannot be too careful."

The redhead narrowed her eyes at the bluenette's response, not having failed to identify an important-sounding term that she was unfamiliar with.

"...Apostles?"

"Yes." Rei confirmed, turning to look at her curiously, "Did Mother fail to mention them? What we met in the underground facility and what we believe was controlling you would both be part of such a group."

"Yeah... She didn't tell me anything about that." Asuka crossed her arms, eyes narrowing at the memory of her conversation with Yui. "Then again, she didn't say much of anything other than: _'That's not for you to know at this time_. _'_ "

"...I see."

The young woman went really silent after that, although it didn't take someone of Asuka's intelligence to tell what was going through Rei's head. After all, _'I hope I haven't messed up'_ was pretty much written all over the face of her nemesis.

It wasn't long before the bluenette shook herself out of her worries, however, quickly focusing back on the topic at hand by throwing Asuka an expectant look.

"Do we have an agreement, then?"

Asuka contemplated the offer for all of one second, before slowly nodding her head in assent. She would take _any_ opportunity to mend her earlier mistakes, after all, and having the chance to cave in the face of her nemesis while she was at it was a welcome extra to the offer, as well.

...

...Or would that be 'rival', now?

"I guess we do," Asuka replied, before fixing the young Lady with the most intimidating look that she could muster. "But just so you know, next time's not going to go like the last! I'm going to _crush_ you so hard and so quick you'll have trouble telling up from down for three days straight!"

"I would expect nothing less after your consent, Sohryu-san," Rei coolly shot back without the slightest hint of panic. "To give our agreement anything less than your best would be nothing short of insulting."

Asuka scoffed at the other girl's demanding response, although a well-hidden feeling of relief also washed over her at the return of her usual high and mighty attitude. Quietly and without paying much attention to the other, both girls changed back into their clothes and prepared for whatever the day had left to offer them.

-]LotF[-

Far into the depths of Akuro castle, a woman worked tirelessly within an expansive chamber known only to a select few. Full of advanced gadgets and machinery, the soft whirring of functioning electronics filled a chamber that was several times taller than the typical Yamese room, and that housed several large and prominent cylinders on its side connected to a myriad of wires and assorted equipment.

Keeping her work space well-lit with bright and white lighting in order to combat the effects of toiling late into the night as much as possible, Yui Ikari pored over lines and lines of code and data flashing by through three different screens, effortlessly taking in all of it with an analytical eye and a serious visage.

A pair of beeping sounds suddenly caught the woman's attention, and she stopped the flowing of the symbols with a flick of her finger. Yui then turned towards a far bigger screen mounted on a side wall and, noticing a red dot blinking in and out of existence on its edge, brought it to life with the push of a button.

Smiling softly, the Lady of Akuro was happy to see a man with a well-trimmed beard and glasses appear on screen: Gendo Ikari, her significant other.

"Finally. I've been trying to get through for quite some time now, dear."

"Sorry, Yui," Gendo offered, pinching the bridge of his nose with a deep sigh. "The meeting took longer than expected, for all the overall good it did."

"Colour me surprised. The Lords and Ladies squabbling about petty arguments, as per usual?" Yui scoffed, shaking her head. "Useless, the lot of them. I sometimes pity the Empress for having to sit and listen to their vainglorious blather for days on end."

"Today's conference was not without its merits, however. I heard talk of a Skyguard squadron heading north when I was preparing to leave. A trio that were supposed to take their oath shortly, from what I gather."

"Kirishima? Now that's some good news." Keeping an ear on the conversation, Yui went back to her previous task of perusing the stream of data. "Ah, youth. So utterly naïve and idealistic to fall under the sway of a few honeyed words; did she take the object of our interests with her, perchance?"

"I haven't been able to confirm, but everything points to it still resting in place."

"Is that so? Regrettable, but I'll accept such an easy recruitment as the boon it is, even if she won't be at her full capacities for the foreseeable future." With a flex of her fingers, three sizable windows containing pictures and descriptions of mechanical hardware appeared before Yui. She looked at them intently for a few seconds, before dismissing them as quickly as they'd been summoned. "Kirishima should have other potential uses, either way."

On the screen and out of the corner of her eye, Yui noticed her husband grab hold of a comfortable chair and sit down on it, propping his elbows on top of his knees and entwining his fingers together in front of his face. He was now in what he had many a time described as his 'plotting pose'.

She couldn't help but smile at the familiar sight.

"That is about all of the official news I have to report from the Capital."

"What about the interesting ones, then?"

"The reactionary faction is making big statements lately. Crowing and denouncing of the new ways, as usual, but with an increased amount of veiled slights against the Empress and call backs to the so-called 'mistakes' of the war against the Empire. It looks like they are spoiling for a fight, suicidal as it may seem."

Yui stopped in her work long enough to throw a sideways glance at her husband.

"You suspect their involvement?"

"It is likely," Gendo confirmed with a nod of his head. "The faction's forces are not proportional to their bravado, otherwise. Someone must be offering support from the shadows for them to feel so confident."

"I agree, we're headed for an interesting political conflict. Being prepared and choosing our moves carefully when the time comes will be of vital importance." Yui smiled slyly at her husband. "Make sure to keep on practicing your Shogi strategies with Kozo-kun at every opportunity, dear."

"I will, although I'm sure that he would always prefer to face you in a match, rather than me." Gendo smiled back, although much more conservatively. "Speaking of, how are the preparations coming on your end, Yui?"

Yui's teasing smile vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced by a resentful scowl.

"Everything's progressing smoothly, that bastard Iruel won't blindside me a second time. Losing hold of Matarael was a hard enough blow as it was." The Lady skimmed her fingers over the surface of the screen a few times, bringing up a clear overview of Akuro castle and the defensive planning for Gendo to see. "The defences are mostly in place and I'm preparing a warm welcome for whoever's coming to pay a visit. I'm expecting it to be Sachiel."

"Yes, Sachiel would be a good candidate for a frontal assault." Gendo nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly over the bridge of his hands. "However, Zeruel would be as well."

"Impossible." Yui quickly shook her head, shooting down the idea and fighting back a shudder. "No matter how well or for how long he fooled us, there's simply no way Iruel could have gathered enough resources to summon that monster."

The serious man nodded his agreement with a grunt.

"And what of Hachiman?"

This time, it was Yui's turn to sigh profoundly and rub her eyes.

"Hachi's proving problematic, that's what I meant by _'mostly'_ before. It continues to reject Rei as its controller and, judging by the recent synch tests, I honestly see no chance of that state of affairs changing anytime soon." Yui shifted her eyes to the side, looking at the huge cylindrical container that housed an orange giant. "It's getting to the point where I'm going to be forced to have Rei sortie out with Zero."

"With the Dummy system?" Gendo questioned, the pitch of his voice rising slightly from its familiar monotone. "If the system couldn't handle a failed experiment, Zero and Rei won't stand a chance against something like Sachiel."

"...I'm well aware of that. Which is why Shinji will need to take Hachi's reins."

" _NO!_ "

The unexpected and loud shout startled both Yui and Gendo out of their discussion, and the two turned towards the source of the disruption. Standing in the threshold of the room's entrance, Rei Ikari looked at her mother with eyes caught between shock and betrayal, clad in a white and black form-fitting outfit and dripping a few drops of a syrupy amber liquid from all over her suit and body.

"Rei? What are you doing here?" Yui asked, quickly reigning in her surprise. "You shouldn't be done with the simulator yet-"

" _Please, Mother!_ Give me one more chance!" Rei cut her mother off, quickly walking over with a fist over her chest. "I can do it! I'm sure that if I try harder I'll manage to reach out to Hachi somehow!"

"...What's gotten into you these days? You've been uncharacteristically pushy ever since your eye healed."

"I...," the girl began, before stopping herself and breathing in, thinking carefully of the way in which to justify herself. "I just want to be of use to you. And I want to keep Shinji safe."

"You _are_ useful, Rei, and we all want to make sure nothing bad happens to Shinji," her mother replied with a small sigh. "But that doesn't change the fact that there's nothing you _can_ do if the unit itself won't open up its side of the sync."

"But-!"

"No buts! As much as I commend your desire, there's little reason to vie for the impossible at this juncture," Yui cut the bluenette off, making full use of her motherly aura. "Shinji has proven to be a viable partner for Hachi, and there are simply no possible alternatives available. I have my concerns about doing this too, but we have to look at the bigger picture." Yui paused for a second, her eyes seeking Gendo's support. "Wouldn't you agree, dear?"

"Actually, I believe you should allow Rei this wish, Yui."

The Lady turned fully towards her husband's image with a raised eyebrow, not having foreseen such an answer.

"...Et tu, Gendo? I just explained why it's a waste of time to try."

"Perhaps, but the human spirit has been shown to push through astronomical odds by strength of will before," Gendo continued, undeterred. "Rei looks more driven than I've ever seen her, and I have confidence such a thing could be just what she needs to form a bond with Hachiman."

"In fiction's romantic and often inaccurate retelling of historical facts, you mean? I'm afraid that, realistically, determination can only bring man so far in most situations, dear, and this is just one such situation. And your insistence sure shows that you won't be the one pulling all-nighters to change the configuration in-schedule if the sync goes wrong, as it _will_." Yui scoffed, crossing her arms as if to ward off a two front assault, and narrowed her eyes at her husband. "Besides, have you forgotten how harmful trying to force a sync could potentially be?"

"I haven't. I don't think I'll ever forget it. And that's all the more reason why I don't want Shinji anywhere near Hachi if I can help it," Rei softly replied, bringing Yui's eyes back around with her words. Words uttered in a faint volume that had an effect many a time greater than their power would imply on the elder Ikari, further increased by the way in which Rei had unconsciously taken to hugging herself. "Please, Mother. I know that to you, the only person left in the world with second-hand experience in managing these... _monsters_ , I probably sound like a petulant child, but if Shinji is really fated to take up Hachi's reins I _must_ know that I did everything in my power to prevent it. Please, Mother, I'll beg if I have to."

Caught off-guard by her daughter's continued atypical behaviour, Yui found herself at a loss on what to say or do, which was really uncommon for _her_. It took Rei beginning to kneel down on the floor for Yui to conclude that the bluenette was as serious as she sounded, and to snap into action.

"Oh, for the love of- Rei! Stop!" Her daughter complying with the command for the time being, Yui pinched the bridge of her nose and put the few seconds that she'd been allowed to good use by taking stock of the options available to her. Or rather, the lack of said options. "Fine, you win, have it your way, but I'm stopping the sync at the very first sign of trouble. We simply can't afford to have you out of commission at this time, Rei."

The Lady's accepting words brought a wide smile to her daughter's face, of the sort that the bluenette only allowed herself within the comfort of her family, and rarely even then. It was truly a sight to behold, and Yui honestly wished that she'd been in a proper mood to better appreciate it.

Such a thing was not to be, however.

"I'll be there after we're done finishing things here, dear, so go prepare the sims in the meanwhile. C1 should be an adequate challenge for someone so willing to prove themselves, and we'll move onto the sync test afterwards."

Having issued her commands once more, the elder Ikari turned to resume her important talk with Gendo, but she quickly noticed that Rei wasn't going anywhere. A few seconds later and the bluenette was still standing in place, eliciting a questioning look from Yui.

"Um... Mother?"

"What is it now, Rei?"

"...C-Could I speak with Father for a few minutes before we start?" the bluenette voiced quietly, not wishing to irritate her mother any further. "It would help me be more at ease."

Yui's eyes bored into her daughter with the force of a pair of suns in response, trying to unsubtly coax the bluenette into forgetting her request and the lost time that would no doubt be associated with it. Rei remained stoically in place, however, although whether that was due to a bout of bravery or a fear that her mother would pounce at the slightest hint of retreat like a hungry predator was up for debate.

"You're such a daddy's girl," the elder Ikari eventually replied with a deep sigh and a distinct lack of humour, nodding her head in agreement. "Very well, we're not so strapped for time that I can't allow a bit of bonding time between you both. I'll forward the connection to the terminal in the training room, but that's _after_ we're done discussing important matters, understood? Go do as you've been told until then."

"...Yes, Mother."

Rei bowed respectfully and turned around, disappearing through the gates shortly after under the watchful gaze of her parents. Gendo was the first to speak up after the young woman was out of sight, his voice admonishing.

"C1? You're being too hard on Rei, Yui."

"And you are being _too soft_ ," Yui sharply rebuked Gendo's chiding, narrowing her eyes almost to a glare. "The matter of Hachi won't be solved by something as trifling as trying harder, and you _know_ that, Gendo. I'd rather you don't allow sentiment to get in the way of the practical issues at hand, such carelessness has already cost us dearly."

Whether her heated reminder had an actual effect on the man Yui couldn't tell, because Gendo stuck to his unflappable expression as well as he always did. A trait that she normally didn't mind (and that she'd always found both attractive _and_ useful), but that was doing very little for the good of her nerves at that moment.

"I'll keep that in mind, Yui."

"Good." The Lady settled, taking a deep breath and refocusing her thoughts and mood on the task at hand. "On that note, I want you to start restoring Masakado to proper combat readiness as soon as possible."

"Masakado?" Her husband echoed, curiously. "But we don't have the means to make use of it."

"You leave that to me. Focus on your part of the work, and make sure that the Empress and her lapdog don't catch wind of your actions."

"That will be hard to accomplish," Gendo grunted, his eyes closed in thought. "The minister has eyes everywhere and he's obviously keeping watch on all of the territorial Lords. That's especially true for us, though, due to your history."

"Yes, but he's not infallible, we both know that. I don't expect it to be simple, but that's why I'm requesting the refit and reactivation with so much time." Yui's words then shifted, taking on a softer and more worried tone. "Be careful, Gendo, but get it done."

"..."

Gendo, for his part, nodded his head silently, visibly mulling over a topic of worry. A topic that Yui had little problem figuring out since, after so many years, she could read the stoic man like a book.

"He chose his own path, you'd do well to remember that."

Gendo snorted derisively, his own response somewhat biting.

"Not without a sizable push towards it, if I recall."

"...Perhaps," the brunette admitted, wincing slightly. "But you know what could have happened if we had not."

"...Yes, I know it all too well." Gendo pushed up from his chair and back into a standing position, taking off his glasses "If that will be all, I'd like to speak to Rei as soon as possible. Tomorrow will be another long day, I'm afraid."

"Yes, that will be all. There are many things I have yet to finish, myself." Yui agreed, her tired face making some space for a small smile. "Maybe next time we can have a nice chat without having to worry about all of this stressful stuff."

The woman's efforts were mirrored by her husband, a rarity in and of itself even in the most relaxed of situations.

"Unlikely."

"Yeah. Very much so." Yui sighed sadly, hovering her finger over her workstation and preparing to allow her daughter's wish. "I love you, dear."

"Me too. Sleep well, Yui."

With those parting words the screen went black, the connection having shifted elsewhere and leaving Yui Ikari alone in her workspace just as she'd been several minutes before. In stark contrast to said moment, however, the woman's mind was unfocused and ablaze with a myriad of conflicting thoughts and hardly capable of the kind of work she'd been initially intending to continue at the end of the conference.

Accurately foreseeing that the blockade on her capacities wasn't going to be lifted any time soon, the woman gave up on her efforts and sat down on a comfortable chair that had seen very little use over the years. Making time as she waited for the father-daughter bonding to end, Yui's thoughts quickly devolved into a downward spiral matched only by the screaming of her muscles and the itching of her eyes.

Sensations that would accompany her for the rest of that night, and many others yet to come.

"So much burned, so much ruined. And in the end, it was all for naught," the Lady of Akuro lamented, covering her face with her right arm. "Fuck you, Iruel."


End file.
